Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Beyond Time & Darkness
by Mich997
Summary: My novelization of Explorers of Sky. Join a Riolu who doesn't remember anything about himself and a very timid Eevee in the adventure of their lives. Some events are done differently to probably make sense. Rated T for swearing.
1. Prologue

Hello whomever is reading this. This is gonna be my first story instead of my other one. I'd like to try my writing skills using an existing game before I go think of my own plot. Special Episodes will be tied in with the main story as well. Now that's all for this Author's Note. Let's begin!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon and the Mystery Dungeon series. I own nothing.

Legend:  
"Normal Talk"

" _Thought/Telepathy_ "

" **Shout** "

* * *

"Status report." A dark figure said to another figure in the room.

"Sir! They're preparing to go back and prevent this from happening." The other voice said in a rather worried tone.

"Not to worry. I will deal with them personally. Guard the area while I'm gone." The first voice replied confidently. As soon as it finished, it floated off to where it was going.

"Right away sir…" And so the other voice calmly left the room to relay it's master's orders.

* * *

"Grovyle! Are we almost there?" I said while panting for breath. We were running from them again. How'd they manage to find us anyway?! I thought our tracks were untraceable.

"We're almost there. Just a little bit farther then we meet up with her and go back to try and fix all of this." Grovyle told me. When I regained my breath, I took a moment to look at my surroundings to check where we were. Just like any other day, the forest we were currently in was a dull grey color. It's been that way ever since time stopped flowing. The only things that weren't grey were me and Grovyle. Grovyle was a bipedal Pokemon who was mostly green except for his underside which was red. He also had a green stripe on his belly which contradicted the red and kinda looked like a belt. The most prominent feature on Grovyle were the leaves on his body. Three of them covered both his wrists, Two which was his tail and a big one on his head. Once Grovyle saw I was done gasping for breath, he decided to continue to the rendezvous point where we would meet with her and go back in time to prevent the planet's paralysis. I quickly followed suit so that I wouldn't get left behind. After a while, we arrived in a huge clearing which served as our rendezvous point though it was empty at the moment. I sat down on a nearby rock so I could pass the time until our friend arrived. I saw Grovyle do the same thing shortly afterward. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long as after a while, a pink creature with small wings on her back appeared in front of us.

"Early as always, eh Bi?" Grovlye joked. "Very funny. Anyway, you guys ready?" she asked us. We both nodded our heads in response. "Alright. Please be careful out there." She said in a worried tone. "Don't worry Bi. We'll do all we can to make sure this doesn't happen." Grovlye promised. Bi nodded and started to glow and after a while, there was a rumble and suddenly a gate opened in front of us. The sight in front of us was a marvelous but Bi didn't seem to care. Probably because she already sees it a lot.

"Here's the Passage of Time. This'll take you back to the past." She told us.

"This is goodbye I guess Bi." Grovyle said bluntly with a tone of sadness in his voice. "Because once we put the gears back, we'll all disappear."

"I know." Bi whispered softly. We had all known about the consequences of what we were doing but if it meant that what happened would be prevented, then it wouldn't matter. As we were about to enter the passage, a dark blur shot past us and it's acceleration caused us to stumble into the passage. We were sent flying through the passage but luckily, Grovlye latched onto my arm. If he hadn't then I feared I would get lost within this infinite passage of time. Any thoughts of me being safe were quickly shattered when Grovyle started losing his grip on my arm

"H-hold on!" He cried out and tried to regain the grip on my arm. but I realized it was futile. both our hands were slipping and we would let go of each other at any moment now. "I c-can't… I'm sorry Grovyle but we'll have to go separate ways on our mission. I promise we will meet again." I told my friend and my partner. The thought of being separated from Grovyle was almost foreign to me. All the time I've spent in the future, it was with Grovyle. Sure I couldn't defend myself but I made up for it by being resourceful.

"I-if you say so…" With that, he let go of my arm and shortly after drifting, I blacked out.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the Prologue! I've already started on the second chapter and hopefully I can get it done faster than this :P

This one took me a few days due to reasons and hopefully those reasons don't make me delay the second chapter as well.

As always, reviews are very welcome. Especially constructive criticism. Hopefully it isn't too harsh… : Anyways, see you in the next chapter!


	2. New Beginnings

Second chapter is here. I won't be making these Author's Notes long unless necessary so there's that.

Legend:  
"Normal Talk"

" _Thought"_

" **Shout** "

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Mystery Dungeon series.

* * *

 **? Point-Of-View**

" _Today's the day. Today's the day I finally break out of my old shell. Today's the day I join the Wigglytuff Guild!_ " I stated proudly in my mind. After that little pep talk to myself, I was ready to join one of the world's most famous guilds! Though there's one problem… I'm such a coward. But today would be different! I brought my Relic Fragment with me today and this will help me overcome my cowardice. It was already dusk when I stood before the well-known guild's entrance. The guild itself was a huge tent by the Cliffside with the top being the shape of a Wigglytuff with a cheerful smile and a wooden door covering the entrance. There were also two brightly lit torches to the side of it along with 2 totem poles a few meters in front with two pokemon at the top: an Aipom on the left side and a Hoothoot on the right.

What stood out was the small hole in the ground a few meters in front of the door with an iron grate on top of it. Probably to prevent anyone from falling in. Wonder why that's there? As soon as I stepped on it though…

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" A voice shouted below me.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Another voice replied to the first.

"The footprint is-" I didn't hear the voice finish because I had bolted down the stairs in front of the tent by then. Honestly, that shocked me! After a few minutes of me catching my breath, I sighed to myself and brought out my Relic Fragment.

"I promised myself that I would join today… But even when I had my treasure with me, I was still scared…" I said sadly. " _Perhaps I should go to the beach to calm myself._ " I thought to myself. The beach was always my favorite place to relax when I needed to. And so off I went to the beach. After a short walk past town, I made it to the beach. Oh! I was just in time. The Krabby have started blowing bubbles. You see, every day at dusk, the Krabby come out and blow bubbles all over the beach. It's truly a marvelous sight and always manages to calm me down no matter what. When I looked to the left, I saw something very peculiar so I padded over to it. As soon as I got a closer look, I gasped. It was another Pokemon! This pokemon was a blue bipedal one with a black mask thing on it's face which covered it's eyes.

"Are you alright? What happened?" I tried shaking it awake but it seems it's knocked out.

"Ugh…" The other person groaned and slowly stood up.

"Thank Arceus you're awake. You got me really scared for a minute there. You weren't moving at all." I told him with a frown on my face while also backing up a bit to give him some space.

* * *

 **Riolu POV**

" _I-I was unconscious…?_ " I thought to myself. I had a major headache which also made me stumble a bit in front of the person who awoke me. "A-are you alright?" the person asked me in a worried tone. "Y-yeah I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy as all." I reassured her. " _But how did I get here? Arrgh too much thinking is making my head hurt. Wait, how can I understand this eevee? Come to think of it, why does she have blue eyes? Don't Eevee normally have brown eyes?"_

"Something bothering you?" she asked me with a frown again.

"How can I understand you? I'm a human and you're an Eevee!" I blurted out loud to her.

"What?! But you look like a normal everyday Riolu to me." My eyes widened at her statement and I quickly checked my reflection in the sea right next to us. My jaw almost dropped when I saw my reflection staring back at me. It was true! Blue skin, dog-like ears, black mask thing. I was a Riolu. " _But how did this happen?_ "

"You're… a bit odd… Are you pulling some kind of prank on me? That's mean you know." She was frowning again. Why does she frown a lot?

"But I'm telling the truth! I was a human and I've somehow lost my memories and ended up here." I frantically explained to her. "Well… what about your name? Can you tell me your name at least?" she asked.

"Me? Uhh… my name… is…" I began trying to remember what my name was but it seems my memory was failing me. Just how bad was I knocked out? Then suddenly a word formed in my head so I used that. "Jude. My name is Jude."

"Weird name… but you don't seem like a bad Pokemon at least. Well in any case, sorry for doubting you. More and more Pokemon have begun to become aggressive recently. It's quite shocking." she said with a smile on her face again.

As if fate wanted to show me an example, two figures were running fullspeed to my new companion and hit her causing her to drop something as she crashed into my gut which really hurt. "Well I do beg your pardon." One of the figures told us. He seemed to be a Koffing. Suddenly, the girl shot up and was extremely pissed off.

"Hey! What'dya do that for?" She asked.

"Heh. We just wanted to mess with ya." Replied the Zubat. "What's the matter? Can't stand up to us? You're pathetic. But enough about you. That's yours, ain't it?" He pointed to the object she dropped.

"Oh! That's-" she started.

"-Ours now. Thanks kiddo. We'll be taking it now." interrupted the Zubat. "H-hey! That's mine…" she said in a very soft tone. "What's the matter kiddo? Don't want it back? I didn't expect you to be this much of a scaredy meowth." The Koffing teased. Tch, these guys were really getting on my nerves bullying this pokemon.

"Well, see you around kiddo. Heh heh heh…" The Zubat was chuckling while they were walking past us towards a nearby cave. Guess they thought my presence wasn't worth noticing.

"Hey Sapphira, you OK?" I asked her. I was genuinely concerned for her at this point. "Ohh… What should I do? They took my most prized possession…" Her ears drooped as she started to say with tears in her eyes. "It means the world to me. If I lose that…" As quickly as the tears started, she wiped her eyes with her paws. "No. I can't be like this forever. I have to get it back!"

" _Her determination is strong, I'll give her that."_ I thought to myself. As soon as I finished thinking that in my head, she turned around to face me. "W-would you mind helping me? Please! I need to get it back." She pleaded. Dang, guess I'll have to help. I got nothing better to do anyway.

"Alright. I'll help you out." I replied.

"R-really?! You'll really help?! Th-thanks a lot." She thanked me. "Now, they shouldn't have gone too far yet. C'mon!" With that, she ran off into a nearby cave to get her treasure back. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?

* * *

You don't even know the half of it Jude :P  
Anyway, the second chapter is done as you can see. The first dungeon will be in the next chapter so there's something to look forward to I guess.

As always, review guys! I wanna hear your opinions on the story so far. The third chapter should be up in a few days so hopefully I can get that done. Until next time, bye!


	3. The First Adventure

Chapter 3 is here. I've already got an idea for a oneshot but that'll have to wait for a while, at least until either this story is done or if I'm bored so there's something else to look forward to I guess. As a side note, I'm gonna experiment with this chapter and present this In Third-Person POV instead of from someone's POV. Anyway, like I said, I won't keep these Author's Notes long so let's get this show on the road!

Domingize – Thanks for the tips! Feedback is very much appreciated.

SunnySummer77 – Will try to do. Thanks for reviewing.

* * *

The two set foot inside the Beach Cave to find out the two Pokemon who stole Sapphira's treasure. The inside of the cave was mostly blue and some puddles were on the floor. Suddenly, the room surrounding the two began to change. "Whoa! What's happening?" asked the Riolu. "We're in a Mystery Dungeon. These have been popping up a lot lately along with the bad Pokemon. Oh! You don't know what a mystery dungeon is do you, Jude?" replied Sapphira. Jude quickly shook his head.

"Mystery Dungeons are normal areas that have been transformed into a labyrinth-like maze where time and space are distorted. Meaning, we could spend a few minutes in here but when we get out, it might be nighttime. For the space aspect, mystery dungeons always change everytime we leave so there'll be no two same experiences. I've heard that some dungeons even have strange weather effects going in them. Also, for some odd reason, the Pokemon who previously inhabited these dungeons become aggressive to anyone they meet so don't be surprised if a random Pokemon attacks you for no reason." explained the eevee. Just as she finished explaining, a Corsola came charging at Jude.

"Get out! Get out!" screamed the Corsola. "What the heck?!" screamed Jude. "Why is she attacking me?" Sapphira shrugged. "Like I said, some pokemon will randomly attack you. Anyway, use your attacks," she shouted at Jude who was running around the room trying to escape the corsola. "How do I do that?!" shouted Jude back at her. Sapphira started thinking on how to explain how to use attacks when since she had never met anyone who didn't know how to use attacks. "I don't know. Try thinking it up in your mind or something," she said to him.

"Alright, alright. Think it up in my mind…" Suddenly, an attack came to him. "Quick Attack!" he shouted. In a burst of speed, he turned around and ran towards the Corsola and hit it sending it back a bit and knocking it unconscious. "Way to go, Jude! You did great for your first battle," she said with a smile. "Thanks. You seem to know a lot about these dungeons, don't you?" replied Jude. "Well, I did read a lot about them when I was younger. I always wanted to be an explorer. To travel around the world, meet lots of Pokemon and find lots and lots of treasure," she reminisced. "That's a nice dream," commented Jude.

"Alright, that's enough for now, Jude. We still need to go hunt those thieves down and get my treasure back," said Sapphira. "We'll be able to move ahead once we find the stairs," she continued. So the two wandered around the first floor looking for the stairs. After a few moments, they found a piece of paper lying on the ground.

"Hm? What's this?" asked Jude as he picked it up. "Oh, that's Poké. It's the money we use here. You'll sometimes find Poké lying around in dungeons," explained Sapphira. Jude nodded in understanding and they continued on their way. After a few more moments which included getting chased by another Corsola, the two finally found the stairs leading to the next floor with Jude also tripping on the last step and falling on his face, Sapphira tried her best to contain her laughter but failed miserably while Jude got up. "That isn't funny, y'know." He said with a grunt and dusted himself off. "Well it is to me." She continued laughing.

* * *

As soon as they both got off the stairs, it quickly disappeared. They continued wandering around until they found a strange blue berry also lying on the ground. "Hey Jude, pick up that Oran Berry," she instructed. "This'll heal you up a bit when you get hurt. It's handy to have around generally," she explained. Jude decided that it was important for now and opted to take it with them. "Here, I'll put it in my scruff for now until we need it." She took the berry and somehow hid it in the huge fur on her neck. After some more wandering around and some more battles, they found the stairs to the next floor.

* * *

On the next floor, they were greeted by a weird tile on the ground with a huge green arrow painted on it. "That's a Wonder Tile. It'll reset any stat changes we or other Pokemon get," explained Sapphira. Suddenly, a Shellos hit Sapphira on her side sending her back a bit. "Ouch, that hurt. Grr… Take this!" she said and used Tackle on it which fainted the Shellos in one hit. "Pretty good, eh?" teased Sapphira. Jude ignored her and they continued wandering around. After defeating a Kabuto, it dropped something before running off. Jude once again picked it up and inspected it. It seemed to be a seed of some sort with a bit of pink smoke coming from the top.

"Careful with those Sleep Seeds there, Jude. You don't want to accidentally eat one of those and fall asleep," Sapphira warned. Jude decided to heed her warning and put it back down. A Kabuto, Shellos and Corsola appeared shortly after they started searching for those stairs again. "This doesn't look good… Here Jude, this should help you a bit." She extended a paw which glowed white which Jude accepted and he quickly felt power entering his system. He smiled at Sapphira and turned around to use Quick Attack on the Shellos which was sent flying back. The two remaining Pokemon used Tackle on the both of them which they were unable to dodge in time. They both grunted and used Tackle and Quick Attack which the two didn't budge quite as easily as the previous ones they encountered. Another set of Tackles came from their opponent which they were able to dodge this time around by Jude jumping to the left while Sapphira jumped to the right. "Jude, Quick Attack!" yelled Sapphira. Jude nodded and used the said move on the Kabuto while Sapphira used Tackle on the Corsola, making the two crash into each other and knocking them both unconscious. Jude suddenly felt the power he was given fading. Paying it no mind, he turned towards his partner. "That was pretty good, Jude." She said while panting. They saw another Oran Berry lying around and decided to use it and the one they had.

Jude looked at the blue berry before biting into it. He instantly felt a sweet taste invade his taste buds which he loved so he quickly ate more of the berry. As soon as the two were healed up, they continued towards the end of the dungeon and quickly found the stairs to the next floor.

* * *

The duo stumbled across another seed on this floor so Jude picked it up. Unlike the Sleep Seed he had picked up earlier, this seed felt quite light and was a bit burned. "Those are Blast Seeds. They're highly explosive so they can be used as weapons if thrown. If eaten, they also allow you to breathe fire which will heavily damage most enemies," explained Sapphira. Seeing the usefulness of it, he asked Sapphira to hold on to it to which she agreed and hid the seed in her fur again. They quickly found the stairs to the next level so they went down.

* * *

The bottom of the cave was not what the duo expected it to be. Unlike the previous floors which were mostly blue walls with small puddles, the bottom was filled with sand and seemed to connect to the ocean. In the far end were the Zubat and Koffing from earlier. Sapphira gathered up her courage and approached the two with Jude following closely behind. The two were chuckling to themselves and didn't seem to know that Sapphira and Jude were behind them until Sapphira spoke up.

"H-hey you two! G-give me back m-my t-t-treasure," she said aloud. The two quickly turned in surprise when they heard it. The panicked expressions on their faces quickly turned into smirks when they saw who had approached them. "Well, well… If it isn't our old friend, the big chicken. Hehehe…" the Koffing teased. "Urk, G-give me back my t-treasure!" she exclaimed after recomposing herself after hearing what the koffing said. The Zubat's ears perked up when he heard the word treasure. "So this rock is really valuable, eh? We thought it was just some stupid rock," the Zubat told her. "It could be worth than more than what we thought," said the Koffing aloud for everyone to hear. "We ought to sell it. It might fetch a good price. Hehehe… All the more reason to not give it back!" he exclaimed.

Sapphira gasped at what they said. "Y-you can't!" The Zubat laughed at her. "If you really want it back… come and get it! Heh-heh-heh!" With that, the two quickly charged into the two using Tackle. The duo was able to dodge it easily using the same tactic they had used against the Kabuto and Corsola earlier. Suddenly, they both turned around and the Koffing suddenly released a huge purple smoke cloud. "Let's see you guys dodge this!" he exclaimed. The two were able to dodge when they dived for cover. Sapphira quickly used Flail on the Zubat, causing him to stagger in the air a bit while Jude used Quick Attack on the Koffing once the purple smoke faded. The Zubat seemed to be getting tired while the Koffing seemed to show no signs of fatigue yet.

"Tch, you guys are getting annoying. Good thing I know this!" The Zubat quickly lunged at Jude and managed to bit at his arm and quickly withdrew before he could react. Jude clutched his arm in pain and watched the blue bat glow a faint green and some of it's injuries healing. "Like my Leech Life? It'll hurt you and restore my health at the same time," he stated proudly.

"Sapphira, we can't let this fight drag out too long. We have to take out that Zubat first since he can heal himself. Once he's out, the Koffing should be easy for the both of us. You still got that Blast Seed?" Jude whispered to the eevee. Seeming to understand what Jude had in mind, she quickly nodded. "Alright, throw it at the Zubat once I use Bite on the Koffing, alright?" She quickly nodded.

"What're you two planning over there? Either way, you guys ain't getting outta here without some major injuries!" the Zubat teased. "Now!" Jude shouted as he quickly charged towards the Koffing. While the Zubat was preoccupied with trying to move towards Jude to intercept him, Sapphira quickly aimed and threw the Blast Seed at the bat. The seed hit it's target and the bat was shot down in an instant leaving him unconscious on the sandy ground. At the same time, Jude had used Bite on the Koffing and also managed to land a critical hit on it but the resilient Pokemon was still floating.

"You guys'll pay for that. Fine, if you want your stupid rock back, then take it! It's probably worthless anyway. Mark my words, we WILL be back and next time, we won't go easy on you," the Koffing went to his partner and brought out a blue orb which he forcefully threw to the ground making it shatter. As it shattered, the two thieves were enveloped in a white light which made Jude and Sapphira cover their eyes. As soon as the light faded, they were gone. At the place where they stood was the Relic Fragment, seemingly untouched even during the battle. Sapphira quickly ran over to it and picked it up, hugging it tightly with Jude deciding to give her some space.

After a while, Sapphira turned to face Jude. "T-thanks a lot, Jude. I would've never gotten my treasure back if it weren't for you." She said with a smile on her face. "It was no problem. I enjoyed our little adventure together, too." He replied sheepishly.

* * *

They soon left the dungeon and emerged back on the beach. The two of them were sitting on the beach and staring at the sunset while Jude was thinking to himself.

"Hm… I only helped Sapphira because I was there at the right time… and I was bored. Was that the right thing to do? Hm, I guess so… And feeling appreciated seems like a nice thing, too."

"Hey, Jude. This is what they stole." Sapphira interrupted his train of thought. He noticed that her rock was out in between them. I call it a Relic Fragment. It may seem like just some rock but I value it a lot since my parents gave it to me before I departed to become an explorer." She started to say with a tear in her eye. As quick as the tear came, she wiped her face with a paw and began speaking again. "You see, I've always been interested in legends and lore. My parents were famous explorers and I was always excited when they told me stories of their adventures. That was what made me decide to become an explorer as well."

"Have you ever thought about it? Hidden troves full of treasure, undiscovered areas shrouded by darkness waiting to be discovered, and new lands just screaming to be explored! They must be full of treasure and history! Wouldn't it be great to make historic discoveries?" She said with sparkle in her eyes. "That's my dream. On the night before I left to go here, my parents gave me this Relic Fragment." She then pointed to the strange marking on the rock. Jude had been too busy to notice it before but now he had a good look at it. "

They say they found it on one of their adventures but didn't have time to find out what the inscription means so they gave it to me, saying that they knew I could solve the mystery of the Fragment. That is what has kept me going so far. I want to know where this Fragment goes! It could lead to new, undiscovered places! Isn't it exciting?! Anyway, before I found you knocked out on the beach, I tried to join the Wigglytuff Guild in order to join an exploration team." Her ears then drooped as she said the next part. "But… I was too scared… But anyway, what about you, Jude? What are you gonna do now?" She asked him. "You say you were once a human who lost his memory and was somehow transformed into a Riolu. I don't think people will believe you if you say that," she said.

It was true. People would think he were crazy if he told that to anyone. "Do you have a place to stay, Jude?" She asked him, interrupting his thoughts yet again. "Well…" he muttered. "Well, can I ask a really big favor?" she asked him while pawing at the sand. "W-would you form an exploration team with me?"

* * *

Alright, this chapter is done! This took longer than expected since I didn't know where to cut it off. After deciding to cut it off here, here's the chapter! I dunno if the next chapters will be as long as this one since this was only an experiment of me using Third-Person POV. If you enjoyed it, I might make the rest of the story into this type of POV instead of from someone's perspective.

Either way, leave a review down below! Until next time, bye!


	4. Exploring Town

Here's Chapter 4. I've decided to go back to POVs for this chapter seeing as how it'll fit. As for update schedule… I'll maybe upload every Wednesday and Saturday since I have a base game to get ideas from but once I start my own stories, well… I dunno when I'll upload new chapters. Hopefully it's not too long apart. Anyway, On to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Mystery Dungeon series.

* * *

 **Jude POV "**

"W-would you form an exploration team with me?" she asked me, ears drooping. _"W-what?! She's asking me out of the blue!"_ I screamed to myself in my head.

"I know it may seem so sudden to you, Jude, but I would've never gotten my Fragment back if I went after them alone. Sure, it may have been luck that you were there but I felt really brave when we fought those two. I haven't felt that way ever since I was with my parents. Surely that has nothing to do with luck, no?" she explained to me.

"Hm, well… I did lose my memory… I guess it wouldn't hurt to form an exploration team with her. Who knows? I might even find out why I was transformed into a Pokémon. It's decided then." I thought to myself.

"Alright. I'll accept your proposal, Sapphira," I answered, smiling. As she heard those words, escape my lips, her ears perked up immediately and she broke in a smile. Damn, she looked adorable like that. "R-really?! You'll form a team with me? Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said as she hugged me tightly. I kinda like this. After a few moments, she seemed to realize what she had done and let go and I could've sworn I saw what looked like a blush on her face. Weird.

"It's settled. Tomorrow, we'll go apply as apprentices at Wigglytuff's Guild. C'mon Jude, I'll show you where I live," she quickly picked up the Relic Fragment and hid it somewhere and then she beckoned me to follow her someplace. I complied and we set off to where she would let me stay for the night.

* * *

 **Third Person POV**

The two exited to the beach and arrived at a crossroad with a sign next to one of the paths. "Up ahead is Wigglytuff's Guild but I guess you're tired aren't you, Jude?" she asked him. Jude did feel drained after fighting those two Pokémon off earlier so he nodded his head. "We'll apply tomorrow then. I dunno what's off to the east since I never bothered checking. To the west is where we need to go. We have to go through Treasure Town first though so I hope it's alright," she explained.

Sapphira led Jude into the small, peaceful town. Lots of Pokemon were busy doing everyday things despite it being dusk already. "C'mon Jude, I'll explain on the way," she beckoned him again. The first shop they saw was shaped like a Duskull. "This is Duskull Bank. As the name implies, you can have him store Poké so that you don't lose any when you faint in dungeons. Oh wait, I haven't explained that yet, haven't I?" she asked. Jude simply shook his head.

"When you faint in dungeons, you'll lose half your Poké for some reason. Probably gets stolen by the residents but I digress. There's also this weird force inside dungeons which kicks you out immediately if you stay on one floor too long. Not even the best exploration teams can explain that phenomena. It's quite intriguing," she explained, smiling.

"Ahh… You're quite knowledgeable, young one," said the Duskull who was listening in on the two. He then turned to Jude. "As the girl has said, you can store your Poké with me. Possibly forever if you desire…" he said which made Jude step back a bit. A few steps away was a tent in the shape of a Chansey. "This is Chansey's Daycare. Once we start accepting missions, some of them can award us a Pokémon egg. We can take those to Chansey for her to raise," she once again explained. "But is it alright with her?" Jude asked, concerned.

"Oh, no worries honey. I'll take care of any eggs you have regardless," the Chansey said with a motherly voice. "Thank you very much, ma'am," Jude replied politely. Further along the path was a shop shaped like an Electivire but no one was there at the moment so the two continued onward. Crossing over a small river using a wooden bridge, the two came across 3 other shops shaped like a Xatu, Kangaskhan and Kecleon.

"Welcome to our shop. I'm Kecleon and he's my younger brother, Kecleon," a voice said. The two turned to the direction of the voice and spotted two nearly identical Pokemon. Both had yellow frills which extended to their lips and rings around their eyes. On their belly was a red zigzag stripe. The two almost looked alike if it weren't for their different coloration.

"Oh, it's you Sapphira. Who's your friend?" the green one asked cheerfully.

"His name is Jude. He's gonna be staying at my place for the night," she replied.

"Ah, I see. Well have you been accepted into the guild yet?" the other Kecleon asked. Sapphira shook her head. "I was gonna try today but I got scared so I ran off to the beach where I found Jude unconscious on the sand. After he told me about himself, some thieves came and stole my Relic Fragment," she recalled. The two brothers gasped as she said the last part.

"Are you alright?! Did you get it back?" the purple Kecleon asked.

"Yeah. I was able to muster up the courage to go after them, with a little help from Jude of course," she said, smiling.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

"Huh… what shop is this?" I wondered aloud to myself. Just then, a large Pokémon came up from a room in the back of the shop. "Welcome to Kangaskhan Storage where we store any items you give us," the owner said.

"Eh? Store items?" I repeated, confused.

"That's right, honey. You can store any items you find on your adventures here where I'll keep them safe until you need them again. Why don't you register? You seem like an explorer to me," she told me sweetly. "Uh sure, why not?" I replied. After registering for me and Sapphira to use (which was to only write my name.), she took the paper and filed it under the counter. "Thanks for registering. You'll be able to store items starting tomorrow. Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked me. I shook my head and said thanks to her as I went back to Sapphira.

* * *

 **Sapphira POV**

As I finished retelling the day's events to the Kecleon brothers, Jude walked back to us. Strange… I didn't see him walk off.

"It looks like your friend is back. We've taken enough of your time, Sapphira so we'll go back to the shop. Come visit if you two need anything, alright?" the older brother said to me. I nodded and turned to face Jude. "I didn't notice you wandered off, Jude. Where'd you go?" I asked.

"Oh, I went to Kangaskhan Storage. I even registered an account for us already," he said happily. Hm, it'll be helpful for our adventure so I just nodded.

"I'd show you Xatu's Appraisal but it seems like it's closed." I pointed to the last shop we haven't visited yet and found no one there. Xatu must be somewhere else. Oh well, not like we have any boxes at the moment. I beckoned Jude to follow me again so we could head to Sharpedo Bluff where I lived.

Walking a few miles, we eventually arrived to Sharpedo Bluff. "This is where I live. It's called Sharpedo Bluff. It's named that because if you look at it from afar, it's in the shape of a Sharpedo except without the dorsal fin," I explained to Jude.

"Wow… that's pretty interesting," he said, smiling. I gotta admit, when I first found this place, I thought the same too. I quickly reminisced of when I first found the place but quickly pushed those aside for later. I went to a nearby bush which Jude seemed to notice. "What's over there, Sapphira? he asked me.

"Oh, this is how I cover up the entrance to my place. You see, when I found it, it was by pure luck since when I arrived in Treasure Town, it was still early in the afternoon so I decided to wander around. Once I went past Kangaskhan Storage, I found this place but it was in the open. Now, watch," I told him of how I found this place. Seriously, whoever used to live here didn't do a good job of hiding the place. I moved the bush off to the side which revealed a set of stairs leading down into the Cliffside. "Let's go in, Jude." I told him as I went down.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

As I entered Sapphira's house, (could it even be called a house?) I was awed at the inside. The inside of the cliff was very spacious and could accommodate a lot of Pokemon. There was a fountain nearby which probably supplied Sapphira with water. There was also various berry bushes growing down here and a flower patch in one area. There were jagged rocks to prevent people from going over the edge, though it seems pointless since you already have an awesome view of the distance even from far away. A straw bed lay in the center which was probably Sapphira's.

"We can make your bed right now if you want, Jude. I keep some straw nearby in case someone sleeps over," she said to me. I nodded and we got started on constructing my bed. In a few minutes, we were done and another straw bed stood next to Sapphira's. Since it was already night, we plucked some berries from a nearby bush and ate our dinner. After dinner, we decided to head to bed since tomorrow, we would apply as apprentices for the guild. I wonder what it's like to be an explorer… I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I took one last glance at Sapphira and since I was tired from the day's events, I quickly let sleep claim me.

* * *

So the events in this chapter is different from the game since Bidoof explains the various shops later after you join. I decided to break that and let Sapphira explain it instead. And speaking of Sapphira, I forgot to mention that she's unusual in that her eyes are blue instead of the normal brown of Eevees. I'll update Chapter 2 to include a remark of Sapphira from Jude once this is uploaded. Try to find it. :P

As for future events, what I have in mind is to have all the Eeveelutions appear as side missions and reward Sapphira with a special gift per evolution. That's all the spoilers for now.

Keep reviewing! I love to get reviews and always take advice to heart. Special Thanks to Domingize for giving me pointers so far. Thanks!

Anyways, until next time, bye!


	5. First Day

Welp, here's chapter 5. Hm, I'm thinking… Every 5 chapters I'll be making sure that the word count is 2,000 disregarding Author's Notes. That's about it… I dunno what else to put on these A/Ns so…

Disclaimer: I don't Pokemon or the Mystery Dungeon series.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

After a quick breakfast, we were standing at the entrance to Wigglytuff's Guild. Sapphira had told me about the guild last night during dinner. Sapphira looked at ne before stepping on the grate.

" _To form an exploration team, you have to register with the Guild. There, you'll be given the proper training on various things to become an explorer until they think you're ready._ " I recalled her saying last night.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" A voice shouted from the grate.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Another voice asked. Geez, do they say everything twice? That's annoying.

"The footprint is Eevee's! The footprint is Eevee's!" The first voice replied. It seemed Sapphira was about to jump off the grate but stopped herself from doing so. After a moment of silence, the second voice got our attention.

"You may ENTER." The voice shouted the last part out. "Hm? It seems someone's with you. Tell them to stand on the grate," the voice said in a calmer tone. Sapphira turned to me and motioned to the grate.

"I guess they mean you, huh? Well… better do as they say," she told me. Suddenly, the first voice shouted at me. "Hey, stranger! Get on the grate already!" it said impatiently. Wow, rude. As I stepped on the grate. It repeated what it said to Sapphira though I raised my eyebrow when the second voice asked the first one what Pokemon I was.

"The footprint is… The footprint is… uh…" it trailed off.

"What's the matter? Whose footprint is it, Diglett?!" the second voice shouted to whom I think to be Diglett. "Uh… Maybe Riolu's! Maybe Riolu's!" Diglett replied.

"WHAT?! MAYBE?" the second voice roared. Woah! That would've scared anybody…

"B-but… That's a footprint you rarely see around these parts…" Diglett complained. "Ugh… fine. I'll let it slip this time. But, you better know next time, Diglett" the voice shouted. While they were having their exchange, Sapphira and I sweatdropped.

"Well, sorry to make you two wait. It's true you don't see a lot of Riolus around these parts, but you don't SEEM like a bad Pokemon. You both may ENTER," the voice shouted the last part again. Suddenly, the huge wooden door in front of us fell giving us a peek of what lay inside. Inside was just… a ladder heading downward. Kinda anticlimactic, but whatever.

"Woah! That was sudden. But at least we're finally allowed to go in. I'm so nervous though…" Sapphira said. "Shall we go in?" she asked me. As we went in, we also saw a huge sign board to the left of the ladder but we didn't bother to read it now. We went down the ladder which I found amusing since Sapphira climbed down awkwardly.

"I wonder if I'll get used to that," she said aloud. I snickered a bit before replying. "Well, you're gonna need to since we're gonna be leaving a lot." Seemingly ignoring my comment, Sapphira looked around with stars in her eyes. "Wow! So awesome. There sure is a lot of Pokemon here… do they all belong to exploration teams?" she asked aloud. I looked at the place myself. I got to admit, it was pretty cool. The guild was inside the Cliffside which made for great views when looking out the windows. Grass was everywhere so it was nice.

"Excuse me," a voice said. Sapphira and I turned around to see a Pokemon fly out from a floor below. The Pokemon was a bird and was mostly blue with it's head being in the shape of a musical note. "It was you two who came in, right?" it asked us. We both nodded.

"I'm Chatot! I'm the master of intelligence at this guild! That means I know a lot of stuff. And I'm Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right-hand man!" he boasted, smiling. "Now shoo! No salespeople or surveyors!" he suddenly squawked.

"Eh?! But we aren't here because of that! We're here to form an exploration team," I replied. Chatot looked at me and Sapphira for a moment then turned around.

"Hm… It's rare to see such an enthusiastic kid want to apprentice in this guild. Especially given how hard our training is… Surely the number of Pokemon who drop out due to our rigorous training proves how true that is…" he seemed to think out loud. A question mark appeared above Sapphira's head.

"Excuse me, but is it really that harsh?" she asked. Chatot squawked in surprise and turned towards us.

"W-what? Err… no, no, no! That's not true in the slightest! Whoever told you that is lying!" he quickly replied. Sapphira and I inadvertedly sweatdropped at his comment. "You should've told me that you wanted to be an exploration team earlier. Hee-hee-hee," he sang. I turned to Sapphira.

"Geez, what a shift in attitude," Sapphira told me. Suddenly, Chatot interrupted our conversation.

"Squawk! Okay, let's get you two signed up. Follow me, please." He hopped towards the ladder leading below. Having no choice, we followed him downstairs.

"This is the guild's second underground floor. This is mostly where the apprentices work," Chatot explained. It was different that the first floor as there were 2 hallways to the left and right of the ladder. Also on the right was some kind of shop run by a Croagunk who we also assumed to be a staff member. "Registration is this way. Come along, please," he told us. He led us to the left where there was a door. Sapphira ran to a nearby window.

"Wow… We're two floors underground but you can still see outside," she said, amazed. Ignoring Sapphira, Chatot beckoned us to the door.

"Here we are at Guildmaster Wigglytuff's room. As a bit of friendly advice, under no circumstances should you ever be discourteous to the guildmaster." He said sternly. Chatot then knocked on the door three times. "Guildmaster, it's Chatot! I'm coming in," he said as he opened the door and went inside. We quickly followed and I closed the door as soon as me and Sapphira were inside.

Once inside, we were met with someone's backside which I presumed to be Wigglytuff's. Chatot cleared his throat and began to speak up. "Ahem, Guildmaster, I present to you two Pokemon who wish to join as apprentices," he said. There was silence. "Um… Guildmaster…?" Chatot repeated.

Suddenly Wigglytuff turned around with a "Hiya!" which made Sapphira jump in surprise. "I'm Wigglytuff! The Guildmaster of this guild," he introduced himself. "To register as an exploration team, we must first register your team name. So what's it gonna be? Oh, hey, you're quite a weird Eevee. Most Eevee have brown eyes while yours is blue," he stated.

"Oh… Um… I haven't thought about a team name…" Sapphira muttered.

"If I might interrupt, your eyes do look like Sapphires while your friend's eyes are like Rubies. Why not have Relic as your team name?" Chatot said. Hm, he did have a good point. Sapphira's eyes are the color of Sapphires so I guess that's where she got her name. I turned to Sapphira to say that I agreed on Chatot's name.

"Y'know, Chatot kinda has a point. Plus Team Relic would sound cool too," I told her. She seemed to understand as she nodded at me. "Alrighty then, Team Relic it is!" I shouted.

"Okay then. Team Relic it is." Wigglytuff brought out a piece of paper and pen and started to write something on it. "Registering… Registering…" he sang. After a bit, he handed the piece of paper to us. "To finish registering, have the team leader stamp their print here. So which one of you is the leader?" he asked us. Sapphira and I turned to each other as we both didn't think that an exploration team had a leader. I guess I'll do it. "I am," I replied. I quickly wrote my name on the paper then gave it back to Wigglytuff.

"All done. YOOM… TAH!" he screamed which made all of us sweatdrop. After he calmed down, he went over to a nearby chest and grabbed a yellow box and set it down in front of us. "Here's an exploration kit. It's got basic stuff in it. Every exploration team starts with this," he said, smiling.

* * *

 **Sapphira POV**

Wow! Our very own Exploration Kit! I'm so excited. Unable to contain my excitement any longer, I opened the Exploration kit. Inside were various items including 2 gold badges with a bit of bronze on the bottom part, an exploration bag and a piece of rolled up paper which I assumed was a map. "So many cool items..." I said, smiling as I held up one of the badges.

"That's an exploration badge. It's proof that you're an official exploration team. Everyone starts out as a Bronze Rank team so you'll have to work hard to become more famous," Wigglytuff told us. He then pointed to the map. "That's your Wonder Map which is a wonderful convenience. It'll automatically mark all the places you've been to." He then picked up the bag. "Finally, this is a Treasure Bag. It'll let you carry items you find in a dungeon. For an unexplained reason, your Treasure Bag grows bigger the more successful you are as a team. I even gave you two something special inside. Hurry and open it up!" He gave the bag to me and I promptly opened it. Inside was a pink scarf as well as a Lime Bow.

Chatot decided to explain those two items at that moment. "How lucky! Guildmaster gave you a Defense Scarf. Those are incredibly rare, you know. They boost the defense of whoever is wearing it. As for the Lime Bow, it doesn't seem to be anything extraordinary." I quickly put on the Defense Scarf on myself and I could already feel myself getting stronger which made me smile.

"Remember that you're only apprentices for now, so go do your best!" Wigglytuff encouraged. Jude and I broke into a smile and said "Yeah!"

"Now that that's settled, Chatot, please show them where they'll be staying," Wigglytuff instructed. Chatot nodded and urged us to follow him. We went outside Guildmaster Wigglytuff's room and proceeded to the corridor to the left. Inside was a crossroad.

"These are the apprentices' quarters. Yours is over here," he said as we went straight. Inside our room was 2 straw beds and a window which overlooked the ocean. Pretty lackluster but you deal with what you get.

"Since it's still the afternoon, why don't you get to know the others a bit? After all, you'll be working with them starting tomorrow," Chatot suggested. We quickly nodded and left with Chatot, Once we got to the main area, he turned to us.

"That's Croagunk. He runs some sort of shop," he said pointing to a blue, frog Pokemon. He had orange pouches on his cheeks which were inflating and deflating every time he breathed. Chatot then pointed us to the hallway to the right of the ladders. "That leads to the mess hall and kitchen. Chimecho is our cook around here but she's busy at the moment," he said. Suddenly, we heard an all-too familiar conversation.

"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" Diglett shouted but we couldn't see where he was.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" The familiar voice replied. The voice belonged to a Pokemon who had such a huge mouth and two circular ears. We didn't bother to stay as we headed up the ladder to B1F of the guild. I'm still not used to climbing those ladders…

"That Loudred is always so loud…" Chatot muttered to himself, barely audible.

"Anyway, over there is Corphish, Sunflora and Bidoof." He pointed to three Pokemon chattering amongst themselves in one corner. Suddenly, the board on our left flipped inside out which made us both jump in surprise. Chatot merely chuckled to himself.

"Heeheehee… Watching newbies get scared like that always makes me smile," he said aloud. Judging from the puzzled expressions on our faces, Chatot decided to explain. "You see, Diglett's dad, Dugtrio, changes the boards every day since new jobs keep popping up. You see, ever since time was gotten out of hand, bad Pokemon have been popping up everywhere," he explained. "I don't know if this is also due to time's influence but… there's also been a rise in… mystery dungeons," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"But anyway, that's all for now. You're free to do as you wish. Just be back by dinner," he told us as he went off somewhere.

After dinner, there wasn't much to do so we went back to our room. It was already late when we decided to get to bed. I looked at Jude who was also on his bed and started speaking to him. "Hey, you still awake, Jude?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" he replied.

"My heart's been racing all day… But I'm glad I finally managed to enter the guild… To be honest, I thought Wigglytuff would be super scary but he's an alright person," I told him. We both laughed at the last part. I yawned before continuing.

"We'll be experiencing all sorts of new stuff tomorrow… but I feel that as long as you're with me, we'll be able to overcome anything. See you tomorrow," I said as I fell asleep.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

Seeing as I wasn't tired yet, I decided to think to myself.

"Suddenly I find myself apprenticing at this guild… But I guess it ain't all that bad. I gotta admit, It's pretty exciting being in an exploration team. And it's pretty fun being with Sapphira as well… Maybe I'll even solve my mysteries… like how did I turn into a Pokemon? How did I end up unconscious on that beach? So many questions… so little answers… Hm, I'm getting tired… Time for bed."

As I finished my thoughts, I blacked out due to fatigue.

* * *

Well this was late… Sorry about that. I'll make it up in the next chapter though. Anyway, I also want to say thanks to all those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story! Thanks a lot!.

Until next time, bye!


	6. First Job

"WAKE UP! IT'S MORNING ALREADY. IF YOU'RE LATE FOR OUR MORNING ASEEMBLY, YOU'LL BE SORRY." Loudred shouted, making Sapphira and Jude wake up in surprise. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff's got a huge temper. If you make him lose it…. Gah! I don't wanna think about it! SO GET THE HELL UP ALREADY" he continued before leaving.

"Geez… what was that about?" Jud asked dizzily. "I dunno… something about Wigglytuff?" Sapphira replied. Suddenly the two snapped out of it when she mentioned Wigglytuff.

"Wait! Yesterday, we applied for the guild and got accepted. But that means…" she gasped before continuing. "We overslept! C'mon Jude, we gotta hurry," she said as she and Jude stumbled to get to the central area. When they finally arrived, all the others were already there. Once they arrived, they saw everyone was staring at them except for Chatot.

"YOU GUYS ARE LATE," Loudred said, using Hyper Voice to amplify the volume. Chatot flapped his wings at him.

"Quiet. Your voice is ridiculously loud…" he said which made Loudred shrink back in embarrassment while the others suppressed their laughter. "Anyway, as we're all present, let's call on Guildmaster Wigglytuff to commence the morning address," he said as he knocked on Wigglytuff's door. After a while, the door opened and Wigglytuff came walking out.

"Zzz…" Wigglytuff seemed to be snoring which made the apprentices murmur to each other and made Chatot, Sapphira and Jude sweatdrop before Chatot cleared his throat.

"Thank you Guildmaster for your…" he paused, try to find the right words to continue. "…words of wisdom. Alright, crew. Remember to always take the guildmaster's words to heart! To wrap up our morning address, let's do our usual morning cheer!" he said. "A-one, A-two, A-1-2-3!" he started.

"ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE, SMILES GO FOR MILES!" everyone but Sapphira and Jude cheered though Chatot didn't seem to notice and Wigglytuff was still sleeping through it all. "Ok everyone, let's get to work," Chatot said to which everyone except Sapphira and Jude replied "HOORAY!" as they all went off to do the day's work. Seeing as the two of them had nothing to do at the moment, they approached Chatot, who seemed to know what they'd be doing.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to join once you get the hang of it. Anyway, follow me," he told them as he flew up to the first sublevel. Having no choice, they followed behind him. When the two got to the first sublevel, Chatot waved at them from in front of one of a board. On it were various pieces of paper pinned to the wall.

"Now that you're apprentices here at the guild, you'll need to pull your weight by doing missions," he then pointed to the bulletin board. "This is the Job Board. Here, you'll find various requests ranging from finding lost items to escorting the clients through dungeons. Since this is officially your first day as explorers, we'll give you an easy mission," he told them as he scanned through the various requests on the board until he found one which he deemed okay. He then gave the paper to them and Sapphira read it aloud.

* * *

Rank: E

Client: Klefki

Description: Hello! My name is Klefki. Someone has stolen one of my keys! As you may not know, I hold my keys in very high regard, it's my most prized possessions! I just can't seem to settle down knowing one of my keys is missing. I just can't seem to settle down knowing one of my keys is missing. I've heard someone spotted a key in a bluff. But this bluff is said to be extremely dangerous. I could never go anywhere so dangerous! Oh, whoever reads this, please get my key back! You'll be handsomely rewarded.

Reward: ?

Place: Drenched Bluff B7F

* * *

"Wait a second… we're only going on an item hunt? I'd rather go on a bigger adventure than that; like looking for treasure or exploring new dungeons… Things like that!" Sapphira said.

"Hush!" Chatot snapped and then returned to being calm. "Seeing as this is your first job, this should be good. Don't want you failing your first job now, don't we? Besides, you'll be able to pick your own jobs tomorrow," he said. Seeing no point in continuing the argument, the two made their way to Drenched Bluff. Once they arrived at the entrance, they stood for a moment to talk.

"Well, we're here. From what the job description said, we need to get to the 7th floor of the basement. Drenched Bluff is said to be dangerous but we should be alright judging how good we were the other day," Sapphira said. Jude nodded and so they set forth into Drenched Bluff.

* * *

 **Sapphira POV**

The inside was almost like Beach Cave in that there was water and seaweed all over the floor. Not long after trying to find the stairs, we were attacked by some Shellos, Lileep and an Anorith which we were easily able to defeat. Along the way, we found some small pebbles on the floor.

"Hm… These seem throwable. Why don't we bring them along?" I suggested, Jude thought it over for a bit before nodding and picking up the pebbles and placing them inside our treasure bag. Nothing super eventful happened until we were on the fourth floor. We encountered a new Pokemon on that floor which neither me or Jude had seen. It was a blue, lobster-like Pokemon with two yellow antennae on it's head. The most notable thing about it was it's left claw which was almost as big as it's entire body. I guess we were lucky since it was sleeping when we found it. Creeping past it was pretty hard since there was no way past it except through a small pool of body. Having no choice, we both silently made our way to the small pool. Halfway through, we heard the pokemon mumble a bit. Fearing the worst, Jude took out a Stun Seed from the bag. Luckily, the pokemon still seemed to be asleep so we immediately continued on our way.

* * *

On what seemed like the fifth floor, we began to feel hungry since it had been awhile since we last ate. Luckily for us, we found something that would make us feel better.

"Hey Sapphira, look. There's an apple here," Jude pointed me to an apple sitting on a Wonder Tile. Seeing nothing nearby that alludes to it being a trap, Jude walked over to pick it up. Nothing happened so he went back to me. After finding a spot to rest for a while, Jude split the apple in half and gave me one half of it.

As soon as we finished it, we felt a mysterious wind start to pick up. I immediately tensed upon feeling the unnatural breeze while Jude seemed clueless about it so I decided to explain to him.

"That's the mysterious force I mentioned back in Beach Cave. Since it's already started, we should continue searching for the stairs," I told him. He seemed to know the urgency so we started walking again as I continued explaining about the mysterious force. "Like I said, no one knows what that is, so everyone just calls it the "mysterious force." If you stay on one floor of a dungeon too long like we did, it'll start to pick up. If you goof off even more, it'll come closer to you. And if you still haven't found the stairs to the next level, then it'll blow you right out of the dungeon. The only way to avoid it is to get off the current floor," I explained. Not long after, we found the stairs to the final level of the dungeon.

The basement of the dungeon was somewhat like the entrance. A pretty straightforward path leading to a central chamber. Something was shining from inside the chamber.

"Over there, Jude," I told him as we walked inside. Inside the chamber was a huge fountain. More importantly, on the ground in front of It was a shining, gold key. "This must be Klefki's missing key. Let's get it and hurry back," I said to Jude as he got it and put it in the Treasure Bag. We then touched our respective badges, teleporting back to the first sublevel in the guild. In front of the Job Board were Chatot and a peculiar pokemon who I assumed to be Klefki. It resembled a keyring with three keys on it while it's face had a small keyholde for a mouth. Klefki seemed to be excited as he eagerly floated over towards us as soon as the light disappeared.

"Oh boy! Did you find my key? It's very precious to me," he said eagerly. Jude opened up our bag and held up the gold key we had found. "This is it! Thank you very much. I couldn't sleep knowing this key was missing from me. For getting my key back, you'll be rewarded like I said on the job request," he told us which inadvertently made me smile.

"I've left the payment with Mr. Chatot so you can grab your pay when you're done. I don't want to keep you waiting so I'll be on my leave now. I'll hang around town for awhile," he said as he floated off towards the entrance. After he was out of sight, we approached Chatot who had a box next to him.

"You've done excellent on your first job, I see. I'm quite impressed. Now here's your rewards," he told us. Jude opened the box and me and Jude's jaws dropped when we saw what was inside. Inside was a Protein, Iron, and most notably, two thousand poke! We were rich and we only did one mission!

"Hold on a moment," Chatot interrupted. "You'll need to pay up. As payment for apprenticing at the guild, you'll be charged 90% of your earnings. I know it's not fair but that's the rule that's been set by the AET," he said with a sincere look. I-I didn't know about this!

"So here's your payment." Chatot handed us our share of the money. In a split second, we were reduced from two thousand poke to a mere two hundred. That sucks. Jude and I both frowned but we had no choice. Suddenly, a loud sound echoed all around us.

"Ah, that must be Chimecho, which means dinner is ready. Shall we head to the mess hall?" Chatot invited. Still feeling depressed of only keeping 10% of our earnings, I frowned all the way to the mess hall. Prepared for us was a huge assortment of berries and lots of apples which made me smile. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I guess the 90% payment was justified; this being an example. There's so much food!

Nothing much happened during dinner except for us telling each other our adventure of the day. Chatot didn't seem interested since he kept quiet. After dinner, Jude, me and a fellow apprentice, Bidoof helped Chimecho clean the plates. While working, Jude decided to start a conversation with Bidoof.

"Hey Bidoof, I got a question," Jude started.

"What is it? Yup," he replied.

"How'd you end up in Wigglytuff's Guild? I mean, what'd made you want to be in an exploration team?" Jude asked. "Hm… Well, I'll tell you some other time since it's getting late. I promise," he said. Jude nodded and finished drying the last of the plates. After we put it back, we turned to Chimecho.

"Thanks for helping out, guys. I rarely get any help cleaning the dishes," she said, sighing. I was surprised at her statement so I asked something.

"Eh? Nobody? With all these plates, you're something else," I remarked. She smiled at me and said that she was fine since she was used to it. Seeing as how she had a genuine smile, I assumed she was telling the truth so I dropped the conversation.

"Anyway, we should all head to bed now," Chimecho suggested. It seemed a good idea to we all nodded and headed off to the living quarters. Jude flipped the light switch before leaving the mess hall. Once we got to the crossroad heading to the Living Quarters, we bid each other good night as Jude and I stepped into our rooms and plopped ourselves on our respective beds. I was very exhausted due to all the walking around we did today so I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. I wonder what tomorrow will bring…

* * *

Sorry for another delay but something came up. Anyway, no intro A/N this time and it'll stay that way for the rest of the story unless I have to put something in there.

Also, this will probably be the only upload this week since I have guests on the weekends and I won't be able to use the computer. Hopefully, once they leave, I can immediately publish the next chapter.

Until next time, bye!


	7. Screams and Outlaws

**Jude POV**

After getting woken up by Loudred like yesterday, we made our way to the central area where we were able to join the cheer this time around. And Wigglytuff wasn't asleep this time as well. After the morning cheers, Chatot approached us yet again.

"Today, you'll be doing a different kind of job. Follow me," he commanded. Once we were at the first floor, Chatot led us to the left instead of the right board. While the left board didn't have any pictures on it, this board was full of pictures of various pokemon.

"Wow, are these Pokemon famous?" Sapphira asked curiously.

"They're famous, alright, but for the wrong reasons," Chatot replied then pointed to the board. "These are outlaws. They're wanted criminals and such they have bounties on their heads," Chatot said darkly which made Sapphira flinch a bit.

"There's so many aggressive Pokemon these days, it's hard to keep track of the problem," he continued.

"And we're supposed to catch these outlaws?" Sapphira asked. Chatot merely nodded.

"No way! That's too dangerous," Sapphira said, her ears drooping.

"Well, it's true there's plenty of outlaws, but they're not all super bad. Some of them are just petty thieves or delinquents. So we've got everything from evil to naughty and everything in between. I'm sure we can find one for you rookies," Chatot explained. Sapphira and I sighed in relief. I honestly thought he was gonna send us on a suicide mission so soon. "Now pick one which you think you can handle," Chatot said.

"Um, not to be rude, but you say some of them are weak, but we're even weaker…" Sapphira said sadly.

"Oh, that's nonsense! You've got to start somewhere. Plus this is all part of your training. You'll get used to be near outlaws soon enough," he replied enthusiastically. Well, at least one of us is enthusiastic. "But then again, you are right. You'll need to prepare first before you embark on your first hunt. Why don't I get someone to give you a tour of Treasure Town's shops?" he asked.

"Oh, no need. Sapphira already showed me all the shops the other day," I replied, glancing at Sapphira.

Chatot seemed surprised by the statement. "Well now, you're certainly smart. That saves us a lot of time. But still, go to town and prepare. Once you're done, Come back here," he instructed. We nodded and soon we were on our way back to Town, specifically Kecleon Market.

Combining our reward from yesterday's mission plus the Poké we found in Beach Cave and Drenched Bluff, we had... only 500 Poké. Seeing as we still had some seeds from Drenched Bluff, we only bought some apples for now. As soon as we were about to leave, someone called out to the Kecleon brothers. We saw two Pokemon running towards the Kecleon shop. Both were blue and round and had a big blue ball on the end of their small tails. The only difference was that one was bigger than their companion.

"Ah, Little Marill and Azurill, what can we help you with today?" The purple Kecleon asked.

"Hello, Mr. Kecleon. We'd like to buy an apple," Azurill replied.

"Coming right up." The green Kecleon went inside the tent and brought out a bag. "Here you go," he said as he handed the bag to Marill. As soon as the two paid for their item, they left with a thanks. Kecleon (G) decided to start a conversation with us at that time.

"You see, those two are brothers. Recently, their mother has gotten ill, so they're doing their best to take care of her. So admirable, those two are," he said. Suddenly, the two came running back to the shop with Azurill carrying an apple on his head.

"Mr. Kecleon, there were two apples in the bag but we only paid for one," Marill explained.

"Don't worry. Think of it as a gift from us," The older Kecleon replied. The two nodded and went off once more. But suddenly, Azurill tripped over a rock which somehow made it fly to our direction. I quickly picked up the apple to prevent dirt from getting to it just as Azurill was getting up. He went over to me and thanked me for picking up the apple. Ok…

"No worries," I said to him, smiling. Just as I was about to let go of the apple, an immense headache hit my head. It was like a hundred Loudreds all using Hyper Voice on me! I felt my vision dim a bit and soon my face met the ground.

* * *

 **Sapphira POV**

All of us gasped in surprise when Jude suddenly fell to the ground. I quickly shook Jude as hard as I could while one of the Kecleons ran inside to grab something I guess. No matter how hard I shook him, Jude wouldn't wake up.

"Come bring him inside. Maybe he's exhausted?" Kecleon (P) askedNo matter how hard I shook him, Jude wouldn't wake up.

"Come bring him inside. Maybe he's exhausted?" Kecleon (P) asked. I quickly shook my head. Jude and I weren't that tired from yesterday. Before I could continue my thoughts, the two Kecleon picked Jude up and carried him inside. Once inside, they set him down into one of two straw beds which I presumed was theirs.

"Let him rest for a while, he might be more exhausted than he let on," Kecleon (P) explained. I nodded in acknowledgement and the two left us be. Now that I calmed down a bit, I looked around. The inside wasn't that spectacular. Shelves full of items lined the walls, sacks of TMs lay in one corner of the room, a fountain in another and then there was the room we were in. In it were two beds like in my place and the Guild. There were also some other items but I didn't bother looking at them. I wonder what happened to him…

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

Wh-where am I?! I remember hitting the ground before everything went black. Did I faint? Suddenly, I heard someone.

"H-Help! Someone please help." A voice screamed. It was oddly familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it…

"Be quiet, kid. No one's coming to rescue you so just get in there," A second voice said to the first. This one was really unfamiliar to me. Just what the hell is going on here?! As fast as I blacked out, I could feel myself wake up.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

"Ungh… Where am I?" I asked to no one in particular as I got up from a straw bed. My headache got better but it still hurt a bit so I rubbed my head.

"Jude! You're finally awake. You surprised us when you suddenly lost consciousness," I heard Sapphira say. Heh… that must've been quite a scene. In a flash, I found myself getting hugged by Sapphira.

"I was really worried about you, Jude," she told me. Wow, that's a first. After a while, she let go of me.

"We should head back to the guild now. We've kept Chatot waiting long enough," she told me. I nodded and we went outside the tent. As soon as I stepped out, the Kecleon brothers approached us.

"Glad to see you're awake, friend. You made quite a scene earlier. Good thing no one was around," Kecleon (G) joked. "Yeah, I don't know what happened myself," I replied as I scratched my head.

"Well, that's unusual. But it's not our business to poke around. Come see us if you need any more items," Kecleon (P) said. We thanked them and then we went back to Guild B1F. When we neared Duskull Bank, we saw Azurill and Marill conversing with an unknown Pokemon. He was yellow and looked like he was wearing brown pants. They haven't noticed us yet so we decided to eavesdrop a bit.

"Really? You'll help us? Thanks a lot, mister!" Marill said happily.

"Don't mention it kids. After all, it's my duty to help those in need," The Pokemon replied. Weird… I feel like I've heard that voice recently. We decided to ask what was going on.

"What's happening here?" Sapphira asked which made them all turn towards us.

"Oh, hello mister. Glad to see you're awake," Azurill directed at me which I ignored.

"You see, a few weeks ago, we lost a very important item to us and we've been searching for it ever since. So far, we've had no luck," Marill said depressingly. "That is, until Mr. Drowzee came along," he said as he pointed to the yellow Pokemon. At that moment, I was feeling a malicious vibe coming from his aura. I didn't even know I could read auras. Cool.

"Come now, children. We'd best get to looking for your item. It's getting late," Drowzee said in what seemed like malicious intent but it was just my imagination I guess. We waved goodbye to the three before they left off to wherever they were going.

We soon made it back to Guild B1F where Chatot was still in front of the Outlaw Board.

"So you two didn't chicken out, eh? Good!" he congratulated. Uh, thanks? "Now pick your outlaw and get on a mission. It's getting late," he told us. We quickly scanned the board listing all the various outlaws. There were some like Pidgeotto and Scrafty among others but when we reached the rightmost part of the board, our blood froze. There on one of the posters was a very familiar yellow Pokemon.

"I-It's Drowzee! He's an outlaw?" Sapphira asked the obvious.

"Hm? You two seem to know him. Have you seen him around recently?" Chatot asked, suspicious at us. After telling him what transpired earlier, he squawked in surprise which made everyone on the floor look at us. "Dear Arceus! That's horrible. You've got to find those children. Hurry," he commanded.

Once we were at the crossroads outside the guild, we found Marill standing in front of the Western path.

"Marill! What happened?" I asked which made me turn to us.

"Oh, it's horrible! When the three of us went looking for our lost item, I got separated momentarily by wandering off path for a bit. When I got back to the path, they were gone! I kept calling their names but they didn't reply," he said while on the verge of tears.

"Where are they now? We'll go find Azurill," Sapphira said, determined which made me smile.

"We were headed to Mt. Bristle," he said. Since we didn't have any idea where that was, I got out the Wonder Map.

"It's over here." Marill pointed to a spot on the map which was a mountain area. Thanking Marill, we went off towards Mt. Bristle.

* * *

 **Mt. Bristle**

The pathway leading up to Mt. Bristle was very harsh, mostly due to the numerous rocks obstructing the path. After a small trek, we made It to the base of the mountain. This seems very familiar somehow so I decided to tell Sapphira about it.

"Hey Sapphira, I need to tell you something," I started. She turned to me.

"Hm?" she asked. "You see, While I was unconscious, I saw Azurill and Drowzee here. Originally, I thought it was only some weird dream but now that they're missing, it's more than that," I said to her.

"So you're saying you can predict the future?" she said as she raised an eyebrow. I sighed.

"I don't know," I replied as I shrugged.

"Well anyway, I guess they're here. Now let's get going, Jude!" she said as we moved out.

* * *

Here's the latest chapter. Since I've been uploading one day later than my promised deadlines, I'll push them back one day so my new deadlines are Monday and Thursday. Hopefully I can keep up my promise this time.

Until next time, bye!


	8. Bounty Hunter

Yes, I'm still alive. No, I'm not abandoning this project yet. My computer needed to be repaired so I sent it to the shop 2 weeks ago. It only finished now. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get back to the story.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

Our trek through Mt. Bristle seemed way longer than it should've been. Must've been the heat I guess. There were rocks of various sizes scattered across the ground so it was kind of a bother to get rid of them as well. Some of the locals gave us quite a bit of trouble since most of our attacks weren't very effective against their sturdy bodies so I had to do most of the fighting with my Bite attack, which wasn't such a good idea but it was something that wasn't normal type.

Along the way, we encountered several new pokemon, including a green, spider-like pokemon that kept shooting spider webs at us which made us slower than normal. It's fortunate there were wonder tiles along the way. There was also a small, bird Pokemon who were a nuisance due to them flying in the air out of our reach so we just ignored them until they dove down to fight. Luckily, we were able to find the stairs relatively quickly.

On the third floor, we found a new item: it was a bottle with a green cap on top. On the label, it read "Max Elixir."

"Cool, a Max Elixir. This'll fully replenish our Power Points," Sapphira commented. Since I had researched about basic exploration tips in the guild during break, I knew what Power Points or PP was. I quickly put the bottle into our bag then we continued on our mission.

On one occasion, a lucky Spinarak managed to poison me, which sucked.

"Nnh... Stupid Spinarak got lucky," I said as I attempted to cover the wound with my arm. Sapphira was busy searching our bag for a Pecha Berry while I was sitting by a huge rock.

"Well, the good news is that I found a Pecha Berry. The bad news is that it's our only one," she said as she handed it to me. Without hesitation, I bit into the berry so it could cure my condition. As I chewed it, a very sweet taste invaded my taste buds and I smiled at it. Apparently my smile was contageous as Sapphira smiled as well.

"By the look on your face, this is the first time you've ate a Pecha Berry, right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I didn't bother eating the ones served at the guild. Guess now I can steal your share," I joked at her. In response, she pouted at me which was very adorable. Finishing the berry, I felt the poison gradually go away. Sapphira and I also ate Oran Berries to restore our energy. Once I was fully healed up, we continued on our trek towards the peak of Mt. Bristle.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

"Uh oh, It's a dead end..." Azurill said as both he and Drowzee arrived at the peak of Mt. Bristle. "Excuse me, Mr. Drowzee, but there's nothing here. Should we go look somewhere else?" he asked to which Drowzee merely smirked.

"Sorry, kiddo. But I'm afraid that's not part of the plan," he replied. "About your lost item... It's not here, that's for sure," Drowzee said before chuckling a bit.

Azurill was confused at his statement. "B-but what about my b-b-brother?" he asked, stuttering. "He's following behind us, r-right?"

"Hm, dunno about that, kiddo. But I'll let you in on a little secret: This whole thing was a ruse," he said. Seeing Azurill's confused look, he explained it to him. "It means i lied to you. Your item isn't here."

"Wh-what?! But y-you were so nice to us back in Town," Azurill said in a shocked expression.

"It was all a lie. Hehehe... But don't worry, kiddo. I'll return you to your brother if you can do me a favor. I promise for real this time," he said before pointing to a hole in the wall behind Azurill. "See that hole? Rumor has it there's a great treasure hidden behind it. As you can probably tell, I'm too big to fit into that itty bitty hole," he paused as to let it sink into Azurill before continuing. "That's where you come in. You go in, find the treasure, then get out. Do that, and I'll return you to your brother. Got it?"

At that moment, Azurill burst into tears, trying to get away by bouncing on his tail while crying out "I want my brother!" Unfortunately for him. Drowzee knew this kind of thing would happen, so he created an invisible barrier in front of where Azurill was going. As he expected, Azurill crashed into the barrier.

"Don't make this any harder for yourself, kid. Now, I may have lied to you before, but I ALWAYS keep my promises," he said as he crept closer to Azurill, who was trying to back up.

"H-h-h-HELP!" Azurill screamed out loud.

"Give it up, kid. Nobody's gonna come to your rescue," he said, starting to get annoyed.

"That's what you think," A voice said from behind Azurill. Both Azurill and Drowzee focused their attention to the direction of the voices and to Azurill's delight and Drowzee's dismay, Sapphira and Jude had reached the peak of the mountain.

"We won't let you do as you please," Sapphira said, having an angry expression on her face.

"H-How did you find out we went here?!" Drowzee asked, surprised to know they had been followed.

"That's none of your business. But first, we're Team Relic! And you're under arrest. No outlaw can escape us!" Sapphira said boldly to which Drowzee's surprised expression changed to one of amusement.

"So you've come to apprehend..." He cut himself off as he noticed something. "Eh? Are you... trembling? Oh ho ho ho! Now that's something you don't see everyday. Now I see, you say you're an exploration team, but in reality, you're just a new one," he said confidently before laughing.

"Yeah, I'm an outlaw with a bounty on my head, but can the two of you do it? Can you confront this outlaw and bring him to justice?" he asked the duo.

"Okay, first off, that sounds like a movie teaser, and second, you bet we will! Right Sapphira?" Jude asked his partner who by this time had managed to stop trembling.

"Y-yes we can! It's no time to cower in fear now. Azurill's counting on us. Let's go, Jude!" Sapphira confidently replied.

"Now that's the spirit. Now, eat this, Confusion!" Drowzee said as he created several yellow rings and hurled them at the two. The two barely dodged the attack by leaping to the side. Running his moveset in his mind, Jude formed an idea and rushed towards Drowzee to which he responded by throwing more Confusion rings at Jude. Using Quick Attack to help evade the rings, Jude zoomed in on Drowzee and used Bite on Drowzee's arm, which made him howl in pain due to the move being Dark type. Sapphira took advantage of the distraction and used her own Quick Attack to quickly close the distance between her and Drowzee and proceeded to use Tackle.

Getting annoyed, he used Psychic to force Jude to let go of his arm and flung him across the peak.

"I gotta admit, that was a pretty good tactic, but it's not gonna be enough to take me down! Nighty night," he said as he produced a pink ring this time and flung it to Sapphira. Since Sapphira was still near Drowzee, she was hit by the pink ring.

"Oh no, a Hypnosis..." she said, struggling to avoid falling asleep to no avail. Soon she was fast asleep. Jude, who had been trying to get back up from the Psychic, saw the entire thing and scrambled to find a way to beat Drowzee now that he was alone since they had not brought any Chesto Berries. While Drowzee was still preocuppied. Jude quickly rummaged through their bag and found some Stun Seeds as well as some Blast Seeds. Hoping for the best, Jude grabbed the Stun Seeds and proceeded to go hide behind one of the larger rocks on the ground. He then threw one of the Stun Seeds at Drowzee.

Unfortunately for him, Drowzee's ability, Forewarn, decided to activate at that moment and so he saw the seed flying towards him and simply created a barrier in front of him. The seed harmlessly collided with the wall but luckily for Jude, some of the sparks managed to hit Drowzee even through the barrier.

Jude followed up by throwing another Stun Seed so he could have more time and since Drowzee was unable to move due to the seed's effect, couldn't dodge the other one so the seed exploded and caused him to become even more paralyzed. Jude made that moment to use Quick Attack to quickly reach Drowzee and attempt Bite again but Drowzee had seen through his tactics, so he managed to free himself from the effects of the Stun Seed and punched Jude before he could use Bite.

"I told you that wouldn't work twice on me!" he boasted.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

Tsch, that plan's out of the window for a while then, I'll need to change my strategy. How much longer til Sapphira wakes up anyway? Well either way, guess I need to stall him until she wakes up.

"What's the matter? Giving up already?" Drowzee taunted. No way in hell we're giving up now. Not when we have someone counting on us. But what could I do? His Confusion attack is super effective against me, and his stupid ability is also in the way... If only I could distract him long enough to bit him... Hm... maybe that'll work... But I need Sapphira for this.

Before he could continue his train of thought, he was suddenly lifted off the ground and flung towards a nearby rock.

"Hahaha... If that's what all you got then you obviously aren't ready for me yet," Drowzee taunted before laughing. Jude took this opportunity to go behind the rock. Quickly rummaging the bag for an Oran Berry, he quickly found one and ate the whole thing in one bite.

Remembering Sapphira, Jude quickly looked at the direction of her and saw she was beginning to stir. Needing a way to distract Drowzee so he could get to her, he started to look at the other items in his bag. One Stun Seed and some Blast Seeds were some of the more useful items left so he decided to use the Stun Seed later before going to get Sapphira.

"Take this!" I said as I rushed him again with Quick Attack but instead of closing him, I went to the direction opposite of Sapphira and started chucking Blast Seeds at the ground near Drowzee's feet. The distraction caused by the Blast Seeds proved to be successful as I heard Drowzee grunt in pain. The smoke screen also helped me to rush over to Sapphira and take her behind a rock. By the time I had set her down, she began to stir.

"Ohh… Where am I…" she said, yawning afterwards.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. I still haven't beaten Drowzee and I need your help," I quickly told her. I peered around to the smokescreen to see it had dispersed so we were quickly running out of time. "Judging by Drowzee panting, I'd say we've almost won. I just need to use Bite one more time to finish but I need a distraction. You think you could do that?" I asked her. She nodded but before we could move, the rock we were hiding behind suddenly exploded.

"I've had enough of this. You two have already wasted enough of my time. Time to finish you off!" he said as he summoned lots of yellow rings around him. He then flung them directly at us, some hitting rocks which caused said rocks to explode. With that demonstration, we activated our Quick Attacks to dodge the rings by circling our Drowzee. Since we went in opposite directions, the rings chose to follow one target: me. Knowing I was weak to the attack, I picked up the pace.

Once I had reached Sapphira, she had readied a Sand Attack and used it on Drowzee. Capitalizing on the Distraction, I rushed over and used a Bite attack on Drowzee, this time landing my mark.

Drowzee roared in pain before finally collapsing on the ground, unconscious.

"Hooray! You beat him," A voice cheered from behind us. Turning around, we saw Azurill emerge from a hole in the wall.

"Are you ok? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Sapphira asked, concerned. Azurill shook his head.

"That's a relief. Now, our mission's done. C'mon you two, it's time to head back. Your brother's waiting for you, Azurill," I told the two. Taking out my exploration badge, I pointed it towards Azurill and a beam of light shot out of it which teleported him back to the base of the mountain. Sapphira and I then teleported out ourselves.

* * *

When we arrived at the base, we were surprised to see Drowzee, but he was being surrounded by 3 Pokemon. Two were flying eyeballs with magnets on their sides while the leader was similar to the two but it had a center eye along with two eyes on both sides.

"ZZZT! I am Chief Magnezone, the head of the police force in this region, ZZT. We would like to thank you on your first capture of a wanted outlaw. Your reward has been sent to Chatot so please see him once you wish to get your reward. We thank you for your cooperation, ZZT," he said before the three officers left with Drowzee.

"Azurill, you're OK!" A voice shouted from behind us. Turning around, we saw Marill running towards us. When Azurill saw his brother, he quickly bounced towards him and embraced when the two met while Azurill started crying.

"It was so scary, big brother. I thought you were following behind us," Azurill said.

Marill wiped the tears off his brother's face while smiling and said "It's okay now, Azurill. Are you alright?" he then asked.

"He's fine. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt," Sapphira cut in.

"Oh, that's a relief. Thanks for helping us, you two. You had helped us even when we had only met. That kind of kindness is rare nowadays," he said with a sincere smile.

"We're glad to help out. It is our job after all," I said proudly. "We should all head back. It's getting late," I also pointed out. The three of them nodded and so we made our way back to Treasure Town.

* * *

 **Later**

"Well done, you two. Congratulations on your first bounty," Chatot congratulated. "Now here's your reward," he said as he handed us 300 Poke.

"This is it? After all our effort, we only get paid this much?" I asked, disappointed.

"Well I did tell you yesterday that the guild keeps ninety percent of your mission earnings as payment for letting you train," he explained. Now I remember the conversation from yesterday. Man, that sucks.

"But don't feel bad, we received a letter from the FET earlier as well. They congratulate you for your rapid progression as an exploration team. And as such, they've sent you two an even bigger Treasure Bag! It's been sent to your room. Also, for your efforts, you'll get the day off tomorrow," he told us. Sapphira and I cheered at the news.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to," he excused himself. Once Chatot had left, Sapphira turned to me.

"Y'know, I wish they'd give us a larger share for these outlaw missions…" she started. I had to agree there since these missions were way tougher than the regular retrieval ones.

"But that's alright. All that matters was that we rescued Azurill, and I couldn't have done it without you, Jude. If you hadn't been with me, I don't know if I'd even accept the mission…" she started to trail off, ears drooping. As quickly as her sadness had come, it quickly disappeared.

"By the way, Jude, didn't you say you had a vision like this when you collapsed earlier today?" she asked me. Huh… I had forgotten about the vision. Does this mean… that I can predict the future?!

Before I could continue my train of thought, my stomach decided it was time to stop thinking. Scratching my head in embarrassment, Sapphira just laughed.

"Ha ha ha, in any case, I guess it was just coincidence," Sapphira told me. That sounds unreasonable but I don't know much about it either so I just let it slide. "Now, how about we get some dinner?" she asked me.

"Ladies first, then," I joked. Sapphira smiled at me but nonetheless headed to the mess hall.

* * *

 **Later that night**

After dinner, we were in our room but we weren't asleep yet due to the sound of the heavy downpour of rain outside. Sapphira was looking out the window while I was in my bed.

"It sure is stormy tonight," she said to no one in particular. "Oh! That reminds me, Jude, the night before I found you on the beach, it was also stormy that night. Do you remember anything since then?" she asked me.

"None as far as I can tell and I'm pretty sure this storm wasn't responsible… I think," I said, unsure myself.

"Aww, that's too bad. But I guess it'll come back bit by bit, you'll just have to be patient," she said as she tried reassuring me.

"I hope so. Anyway, we should get to bed. Don't want Loudred blasting our eardrums tomorrow," I said sarcastically. Sapphira nodded and pulled the curtains together.

"Say, Jude, I've been thinking… Maybe it has to do something with you personally. I mean, I've never heard of Riolus predicting the future, nor of humans turning into Pokemon, so I guess those two are connected somehow. On a different note, I don't know what you were like as a human, but I guess you were a good person. After all, it was your vision that helped us catch Drowzee," she said. Hm, that reminds me of our conversation with Chatot yesterday… about more bad Pokemon popping up due to time getting wacky. Maybe the two are connected?

"You know, time is also getting messed up all around the world. People are even saying that the Time Gears are involved," she told me. Judging by the look she was giving me, she assumed I had no clue what she was talking about.

"They say the Time Gears are keys used to control time in different parts of the world and that they're extremely well hidden, like in a forest which loops forever, or in an underground cavern. At the epicentre of such places, a Time Gear is located there. Time Gears are said to regulate time in that region," she explained.

"What happens if a region loses it's Time Gear then?" I asked, curious.

"No one really knows. There's been a rumor that says that if all Time Gears were removed, a disastrous calamity would befall all. That's why even the most notorious outlaws don't bother with the Time Gears," she said. I was really curious by then, and also very sleepy. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do some research on the Time Gears.

"It's getting late. Good night, Jude," Sapphira yawned. The stormy weather along with my fatigue for the day caused me to fall asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.

* * *

 **At the same time**

A branch cracked as it was stepped on by a mysterious figure rushing through the forest. The figure was quickly running through the forest under the veil of darkness. He had not expected it to rain but it did not matter as it would serve as an extra precaution so no one would be outside.

After turning a few times, it slowed it's pace to a walk as it found one part of the forest being illuminated by a greenish light. Slowly approaching the light, the figure had to momentarily shield it's eyes due to the brightness of the light.

"Finally… I have found one…" the figure mumbled to himself.

The figure cautiously inched towards the marvellous artifact floated on the intricately detailed tree stump. "I just hope he's doing alright…" the figure mumbled before grabbing the gear. Bracing for the worst, the figure sighed in relief when nothing happened. Deciding not to linger any further, the figure quickly rushed back, retracing his steps, unaware of time stopping behind him.

* * *

I'M ALIVE! Anyway, as you can see, my computer's done being repaired and I'll upload chapters again. Next chapter will be Special Episode 1 since this is when you receive it in the main story. I'll try to push it either tomorrow or the next day so look out for that.

Until next time, bye!


	9. Wish Upon a Jirachi I

Here's Special Episode 1: Bidoof's Wish. What my current plan is that Special Episodes will be treated like they're part of the main storyline as well and as such, they'll be after the chapter where you'd get them in the main storyline. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Jude POV**

"Hey Bidoof, can we hear about your story now?" I asked. It had been a few days after our mission at Mt. Bristle had passed and we were at the guild with nothing to do for the rest of the morning so we decided to look for Bidoof. We had found him at the Job Bulletin Board going over some of the requests.

"Well sure. I got the time, yup yup," he replied. He then led us to some nearby benches and motioned for us to sit. "So you want to know about my exploits, eh?" he asked us.

"Yep. Sounds exciting," Sapphira replied.

Bidoof laughed a bit before continuing. "Well it sure was. So here's how it all began…" he started.

* * *

 **Bidoof POV**

"It all started a few months ago…" I began to retell of how I got here.

 _Several months ago_

It was a nice morning today. That was part of the reason why I was so happy today. The other reason was that I would finally get to train at the Wigglytuff Guild. My mom and siblings wanted to wave me off so we were all gathered outside our little home. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to leave my family and friends behind, but I had to in order to fulfill my dream of being a great explorer.

"I know you've been excited for this, Bidoof, so here's a little something from all of us," Momma said as she came over to me and gave me a bag. When I opened it, I was shocked! Inside was seven-thousand Poke! They were giving me this much money?

"If you're wondering where we got the money, don't worry about it. We've all been saving up," Momma said, knowing what I was thinking.

"B-But what about you guys?" I asked, concerned for them.

"Don't worry about us Bidoof. If you're ever in trouble, you're always welcome back home. Now, you'd best be going, it's a long trip towards Treasure Town," Momma replied. With those words, I started to leave the place where I spent most of my early life. Before I left, I turned towards my family one last time.

"By golly, I won't let you down, everyone! When I get back, I'll be a great explorer," I said confidently. And so I set off for real this time, hearing my family encourage me as I went on towards Treasure Town.

* * *

When I was accepted into the guild, I was overjoyed! The training, on the other hand, well… it was… more difficult than what Chatot described, at least for me anyway. There was this one time where Loudred had me go fetch a Reviver Seed but since I didn't know what a Reviver Seed looked like, I mistakenly brought him a Doom Seed. Gosh, to this day, I haven't heard Loudred yell as loud as that time. There's other times too but gosh, it's too embarrassing to say.

But then, something happened that I wouldn't forget for the rest of my life. One morning after we did our cheers, Chatot called me over.

"Bidoof, I need you to head and check how many Oran Berries are on sale at Kecleon Market," he instructed. I thought it was something important but it was only this? I frowned a bit after hearing Chatot's words which made him tilt his head to the side.

"What's the matter? You do these errands all the time," he said.

"That's the point, yup yup. I'm always doing errands. Can't I do a request from the Jo Bulletin?" I asked.

Chatot squawked in surprise and said "Nonononono! Ur… I mean, It's not time for that yet, Bidoof." I sighed.

"Golly, Guess I wasn't cut out to be an explorer after all…" I said sadly. Chatot seemed to pity me since he said something after.

"Don't take it that way, Bidoof. You're just slower than others," he said. Way to be direct... "But I know the day will come when you'll be a great explorer. You just have to make it happen, little by little," he encouraged. I guess he was right. Golly, I hadn't thought of that. With Chatot's words in mind, I promised myself I'd do harder.

"By golly, thanks for the words of encouragement, Chatot. I'm gonna train harder from now on!" I stated proudly. Chatot even smiled at this. "Glad to hear that. Now go to Kecleon Market please," he asked nicely. I nodded and headed off towards Treasure Town.

* * *

It was a beautiful morning in Treasure Town and there wasn't anyone at Kecleon Market so I was in luck. I approached the shop to ask.

"Hello there, Bidoof. Come to shop today?" the green Kecleon asked me.

"S-Sorry to disappoint, but not today," I replied. My response made the green Kecleon sigh.

"Le sigh, just asking about inventory again… so disappointing… But that's alright! Anything for the Wigglytuff Guild," the younger brother replied. "So, what item are you inquiring this time?" he asked.

"Oran Berries," I replied. The younger brother asked me to wait a bit while he checked in the back and I agreed. While he was gone, I began to space out a bit. The other Kecleon apparently noticed this so he snapped his fingers, grabbing my attention.

"You spaced out there, buddy, something the matter?" he asked. Should I tell him about my predicament? Maybe I should…

"Well, recently… it's just… I always seem to mess up on my guildwork. I don't know why but I'm usually a hassle to other people," I said, inadvertedly sniffing.

"Hm… I think I have what you need to stop being a burden," he said, filling me with hope. He rummaged through under the counter where I couldn't see and soon showed me a circular, gray disc while smiling. "Here is the answer to your troubles, friend," he said proudly.

"This TM contains a very powerful move. The move Hidden Power," he continued. Gosh, should I buy it? It's true it could make me a better explorer…

"Uhh… how much is it?" I asked. After hearing those words, he seemed to take more interest in the conversation.

"Interested in buying it, eh? Well, it'll be around… 6,500 Poke," he said. My mouth dropped when I heard how much it cost. Golly, but to be fair, TMs are really rare and the better TMs can only be found in Mystery Dungeons.

"Mind if I think about it first?" I asked politely.

"Go ahead. Take as much time as you need," he replied cheerily. I turned around a walked to a nearby patch of grass to sit. Hm, to be honest, I can afford the TM since I usually carry the money Momma gave me. But… she said I should only it use when there was an emergency… Just then, I remembered Chatot's words earlier.

" _I know the day will come when you'll be a great explorer. You just have to make it happen, little by little."_

Getting what Chatot meant, I decided not to buy the TM. I went back to the stall and told the Kecleon that I wouldn't be buying the TM. I saw the disappointment in his face for a moment but it quickly faded.

"I understand. But don't worry, I offer many kinds of TMs. Feel free to examine them anytime," he said. I thanked him once again and then the other Kecleon came out of the tent.

"After a bit of searching, we have two Oran Berries for sale," the younger Kecleon said to me. I nooded and thanked him as I said that I needed to report to Chatot.

"Farewell, come again anytime," they both said as I made my way back to the guild. When I reached the center of Treasure Town, I saw a Snover running towards me.

"E-Excuse me, p-please take this," he said in a hurry. He pushed something to me and ran off before I could respond. Before I could see what he had given me, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. I turned to the source and saw a Bagon and Gligar approaching. Gosh, they sure look scary… and they were approaching me…

"Hey Bagon, you see him yet?" the gligar asked to which the Bagon shook his head. Suddenly, the bagon turned it's attention to me.

"Hey, you! You see a lone pokemon run through here?" he asked me. Lone Pokemon? Like that snorunt?

"Uh… I saw one go over there," I said as I pointed to where the Snover ran off to. Are they friends?

"Thanks. Let's go, Gligar!" the bagon said as both bolted down the direction I pointed at. Gosh, those pokemon were scary… I don't wanna be involved with them. Quickly realizing I was wasting time, I hurried back to the guild.

* * *

Later that night after dinner, we headed to bed early since we all had a long day. But for some reason, I couldn't sleep. Glancing around our room, I saw both Corphish and Loudred fast asleep. Good for them that they could sleep so easily…

Knowing I had to get up early tomorrow, I tried to get to sleep but after a few minutes of failing, Loudred started snoring. Grrr… I hate it when Loudred snores since it's too darn loud! Oh well, since I won't be able to sleep for another few hours, I started to recall the day's events, most notably those Pokemon I met… Oh! I completely forgot about the thing that Snover gave me. I hid it under my bed before I reported back to Chatot. I carefully pulled the object out from below my bed, careful not to accidentally break it and I saw what looked like a dusty old map.

Opening up the map quietly, though Loudred's snoring easily overpowered the sound of me opening the map, it had a picture of the region on it. But the most noticeable thing was that there was a cave encircled in red at the southeast part not too far away from the guild. Written next to the words was the name of a dungeon that would forever change my life: Star Cave.

* * *

So yea, here's the first part of Special Episode 1. Sorry this took so long, this chapter was kinda boring in my opinion due to the excessive dialogue in the introduction. But alas, I know it gets worse so I'll just have to deal with it. Anyway, I'll try to get the next one up on time since I'm sure you'll actually control your character now. Also, from now on, I plan on each chapter being at least having 1,500 words barring the A/Ns so there's that I guess.

Until next time, bye!


	10. Wish Upon a Jirachi II

In this chapter, I finish up the Special Episode so I can get back to the main storyline. For some reason, I find it more fun to write than this but maybe it's because there's less text every cutscene. Oh well.

* * *

After I was so rudely woken up by Loudred, I made my way to where the others were gathered for the morning address. After our usual routine, I made my way over to Chatot so as to know more about Star Cave.

"What's the matter, Bidoof? Quit spacing out and get to work," he said.

"Mind if I ask a question first, Chatot?" I asked politely.

"Alright, but make it quick. I have some important business to attend to later," he responded. Gulping nervously, I asked Chatot if he knew about Star Cave. At the mention of that name, Chatot raised one of his eyebrows.

"Star Cave you say? Hm, I think I've heard of it. According to legend, Star Cave is a place where the legendary pokemon Jirachi resides in. Jirachi is rumoured to be able to grant any wish so long as you can wake him. The only thing is that no one knows where it is. Even said legend is doubted," he explained. "Why do you ask?" he questioned. I couldn't hear Chatot due to me thinking about the possibilities of meeting Jirachi. Gosh, my dream to be a great explorer… it could come true thanks to Jirachi… and I had the map for Star Cave…

"Are you ok, Bidoof? You were spacing out a bit there, and you were even smiling, is the sun getting to you?" Chatot questioned. Thinking that I've been caught, I nervously answered that I was fine. Seemingly not believing me, Chatot prepared to ask more question but was interrupted by Loudred when he called me, saying I had a visitor. I sighed internally, narrowly dodging a bullet thanks to Loudred. But me having a visitor doesn't happen every day so I was confused for a bit. Excusing myself from Chatot, I made my way to Loudred who told me that my guest was waiting at the entrance. Thanking him, I went up to the guild entrance where I was greeted by a familiar sight.

"Oh! H-Hello…" the other pokemon greeted.

"It's you! You're the snover from yesterday. Well nice to meet you," I responded cheerfully. I wonder why he had the map to Star Cave though.

"Yeah… S-Sorry to cause you trouble yesterday, but I had to keep that map safe from those two," he told me. Snover then continued talking. "You see, I found that map in an envelope while going through some of the memorabilia from my parents. Along the envelope was a letter that said that the map should be protected at all costs as it lead to the greatest power in the land,"

"Golly, that sure is an interesting story, yup yup." I was amazed. I guess Star Cave was real! Now I was even more excited to go there.

"Um… I have a request… Would… Would you accompany me to Star Cave?" he asked.

"Whaaaat?! You want me to accompany you?" I asked, very surprised. On the other hand, I was really excited. I was going to Star Cave!

"Yes… I want to go to Star Cave to meet Jirachi but I'm too weak to go along… Will you go with me to Star Cave?" he requested. Golly, I didn't know what to do. On one hand, this is the chance of a lifetime for me… but I have to do today's guildwork…

"Sure! I'll go with you," I replied enthusiastically. To be fair, I can always do my guildwork tomorrow but this is just too good to pass up.

"Thanks a lot! But I'm probably sure you need to prepare, so why don't you do that while I wait at the crossroads?" he suggested. True, I wasn't prepared at all, and I had to make sure Chatot didn't look for me, so I went up to him to ask for a day off.

"What? Why do you want a day off?" he asled, confused.

"Well, uh… my mom wrote a letter telling me that something was happening back at home," I told Chatot. I felt bad that I had to lie but this was the opportunity of a lifetime! No way I'm missing out, yup yup.

"Hm, well if you put it that way, there's not much I can do. Alright, your request for a break is granted. Just don't cause any trouble for anyone else," he stated. At that moment, my insides exploded with joy! I was gonna meet Jirachi. I thanked Chatot for understanding and said that I would be back as fast as I could.

* * *

After making some preparations for our expedition, Snover and I met up at the crossroads and headed to Star Cave. Nothing really eventful happened along the way except that we had met a friendly bunch of Eeveelutions. They were a couple along with their daughter who were out on an afternoon stroll. Gosh, they sure were a nice bunch.

Soon we had made it to the entrance of Star Cave. For a place with a legendary pokemon, the entrance wasn't overly spectacular. Well to be fair, they did say it was a rumour… But I had to try! I had to find Jirachi.

Once we got inside, the entrance behind us suddenly disappeared and it started to hail. Goshdarnit, why hail?

"Oh no, not hail… I hate hail. It's really annoying," I complained to no one in particular.

"It isn't too bad," Snover said.

"That's cause you're an Ice type and aren't affected by it," I retorted back. Ending the conversation, we both started exploring Star Cave.

The inside of the cave was very beautiful. Despite being a cave, you could see pretty clearly in here. There were pools of water everywhere which reflected the natural light produced by the cave. The stalactites only made the scenery much more mystifying as they gave off natural light amidst the dark ceiling which was probably how Star Cave got it's name.

Too bad it was hailing. We had no time to watch the scenery since I was pelted with hail. Luckily, we didn't meet any wild Pokemon on this floor. The next floor also had hail. What the heck was up with the hail? Not long into the floor, we saw the most unusual thing ever. In one of the wider spaces of the floor, a lone Kecleon sat on a carpeted part of the ground surrounded by various orbs.

"Greetings! Welcome to my shop~," said the Kecleon.

"Huh? What's a Kecleon shop doing here?" I questioned.

"Oh, you didn't know? There's always at least one Kecleon shop in these dungeons. We're in the process of opening up one in Mt. Bristle though," he explained. "Anyway, would you like to buy something? Currently on sale are Rainy and Sunny Orbs," he said, directing to the orbs on the carpeted ground.

"That sounds like a good idea, Bidoof. You can stop the hail by using these orbs," Snover exclaimed. Snover did have a point so I asked how much the orbs cost.

"They're 70 Poke per orb. I'll also make a deal: Buy 3 Orbs and pay only 180 Poke, that's 40 Poke off!" he bargained. Well, seeing as I wanted the hail to stop as soon as possible, I handed over some Poke we found while exploring. The Kecleon thanked us and sat back down. Without hesitating, I used the Sunny Orb. A yellow beam then shot out to the ceiling, causing the hailstorm to stop. In its place, warm sunlight encompassed the cave which didn't make any sense but oh well.

Leaving the Kecleon, we decided to look around now that the hailstorm stopped. We found more Poke as well as some Apples. Yum!

About the residents, they sure weren't on the friendly side. We were attacked by Chingling and Anorith. Since my only offensive move was Tackle, I wasn't much use against Anorith so Snover had to deal with them. On one occasion, we were walking along a particularly huge body of water when suddenly I was pushed aside by Snover. As I recovered, I saw Razor Leaves whirl past my head. Looking at the direction where they came from, I saw Lotads firing them off. Since I didn't have any attacks that could use them, Snover had to step in. Grabbing a leaf from his pocket, Snover started blowing into the leaf.

The leaf started to glow green as it produced an extremely soothing melody which made the Lotads fall asleep. After thanking Snover, we continued on our way.

After a few floors, we reached a different kind of floor. There was only one path to follow which was surrounded by pools of water as far as the eye could see. In the center of the room lay a large, circular platform which hosted a Kangaskhan Rock. Talking it over with Snover, we decided to take a break for a while. Snover decided to go swimming while I took out a Big Apple we had found and started to munch on it.

Once we were ready, we moved out again and entered Deep Star Cave. Golly, the scenery drastically changed in just two rooms… The light which illuminated the cave was now brighter which allowed us to see more of the cave. The bodies of water were even clearer than the ones we saw earlier. The aggressive Pokemon also changed but we still fought Anorith and Bonsly.

When we reached B3F of Deep Star Cave, it suddenly started to hail again.

"Gosh darnit… not more hail," I complained again.

"I dunno… this hail seems different," Snover replied.

"Oh? How so?" I wondered.

"I'm not exactly sure how to explain but it's definitely different…" he explained. Deciding to trust Snover, I hesitated on using a weather Orb. Sometime later, the hail began to subside.

"Gosh, the hail stopped... Very mysterious indeed," I said.

After exploring some more, we found the stairway to the next floor. This floor seemed to be the bottom of Star Cave since it also had a different look than the previous ones. This area had lots of small craters in the ground, kinda like pictures of the moon I saw when I was at the library. There were also rocks which were glittering in the light, adding to the mystifying view.

"Gosh… this looks like a dead end… and there's no other pathways too… where's Jirachi?" I wondered aloud. Suddenly, I heard laughing.

"H-Huh? W-Who's there?!" I asked, afraid of the menacing laughter. Suddenly, a figure jumped down towards the ground in front of me while another was floating down. It was a Bagon and Gligar! What are they doing here though?

"Heh heh heh… so nice of you to come here so trustingly," said the Gligar.

"Wh-What? How did you two get here?! I though only Snover and I knew…" I trailed off

"Hehe. It was quite easy tricking you into coming with me, Bidoof," said a voice behind me which belonged to Snover. I was confused at that point.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Jirachi was never here. It's just an old urban legend," the Bagon said this time.

"Y-You tricked me?!" I asked, very afraid.

"Yep. We're Team Rogue. We trick our targets into going with Snover into various places far from others and then take their valuables," the Gligar explained.

"If you're wondering, I'm the leader of the group," Snover stated proudly but then returned his attention to me. "So you're probably wondering why we're targeting you, right Bidoof?" he asked. I nodded.

"It all began when you were at Kecleon's shop in Treasure Town. While you were pondering about whatever, we were watching nearby. Normally, we'd ignore you but once you brought out that wad of cash, that's when I told my team, that you'd be our next target!" he declared loudly. But then he turned around.

"But obviously we couldn't mug you then and there since we'd get caught immediately, so we devised this cunning plan to lure you," Gligar said.

"S-So it was all a lie?" I asked, hoping it wasn't true.

"Yep. And you fell for it!" Bagon replied. At that moment, my hopes were crushed into itty bitty pieces.

"But don't worry, before we mug you, we'll share something with you. At first, we were pretty excited too when we found that map. We also believed that wishes come true here, so we came to take a look. Boy oh boy were we disappointed when we didn't find anything," Snover told me as the three of them circled me, closing in as well.

"Now, your money… it's ours!" they all said as they dashed towards me. Out of pure instinct, I quickly scampered to the side.

"Tsch, why do you resist? If you hand it over, we'll leave you forever," Bagon bargained.

"N-No, that money i-is… important to me… Who do you think you are?" I retaliated.

"Argh! This one's stubborn! We're gonna take your money one way or another," Snover said, starting to get angry.

"Yeah!" the other two chimed in as they once again approached me.

Suddenly, an orb dropped from above. Shattering and releasing an immensely bright light. Once the light had subsided, I couldn't believe my eyes.

* * *

Sorry for not uploading last week. My dog got sick and my family had to confine it until it got better so that explains the delays. Anyway, the final part will be uploaded not too long from now and then it'll be back to the main story.

Until next time, bye!


	11. Wish Upon a Jirachi III

Once the light from the orb subsided, I couldn't believe my eyes! Everyone at the Guild surrounded us! Gosh, what are they all doing here?!

"All together now!" I heard Guildmaster Wigglytuff shout.

"One! Don't shirk work! Two! Run away and pay! Three! Smiles go for miles!" the entire crew chanted.

"Wigglytuff's Guild is here!" Chatot proudly announced.

"Eek! I-It's Wigglytuff's guild," Bagon said, nervous about the huge disadvantage.

"L-Let's get out of here," Gligar continued, also nervous.

"No! Don't run, you guys. We can take them on," Snover encouraged.

"Yeah, you're right!" Gligar and Bagon both replied, regaining their confidence. Heh, too bad they're still badly outnumbered, yup yup.

"Let's go everyone! YOOM-TAH!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff chanted.

At that moment, everything went by in such a blur. Attacks flew everywhere from everyone. Due to the numbers advantage, Team Rogue was defeated in the blink of an eye.

"S-So… s-s-strong…. WAH!" they all cried out as they ran away. After that, they all turned to me.

"Are you alright, Bidoof?" Chimecho was the first to speak. Talking ever so softly.

"Gosh everyone, it was all thanks to you that I'm a-okay. Just a thing though, what are y'all doing here?" I asked, confused yet again.

"Well, Chatot told us that you were acting strange, so he and Guildmaster had us follow you," Sunflora explained. Speaking of Chatot, said pokemon hopped to me.

"Honestly, it didn't need to take a genius to figure out you were acting strange. You were daydreaming a lot and suddenly you asked for a day off. So after you left, I spoke with the Guildmaster and we came to the conclusion that you needed to be monitored," Chatot explained. Gosh, was I that obvious? Suddenly Chatot squawked.

"B-But I'll say one thing, I-It wasn't because I was worried about you or anything, b-baka!" Chatot said. All of us tried to hold our laughter in but failed miserably so we all laughed due to Chatot's outburst. Even the guildmaster chuckled a bit.

"Be quiet!" Chatot shouted, using Echoed Voice to amplify the sound which also made us stop. "At first, it was only to be Guildmaster and I but once everyone learned of the situation, they all begged to come," he said as he turned around.

"Listen, Bidoof. We may be strict teachers during training but we truly care about you. Even if you mess up. To tell you the truth, I used to mess up a lot too when I was a starting explorer!" Guildmaster Wigglytuff said, reminiscing of his past.

"T-Thanks everyone… but, I've caused trouble for all of you again by making you all come here. I just can't seem to get anything right…" I said, feeling real guilty about having all of them go here for my sake. Not noticing I started crying until tears started invading my eyesight.

"That's nonsense. You shouldn't quit just because of a few mistakes. Take this as an opportunity to grow stronger. Failure is the first step to success after all. That applies to all of you as well," Guildmaster lectured to all of us. Gosh, he was right. I shouldn't quit just cause of a few mishaps. I promised myself I would get stronger and I intend to keep that promise til the very end!

"E-everyone… I'm very thankful for your support. Truly I am… Again I'm sorry for troubling y'all. From now on, I'll do my very best! I won't let failure pull me down!" I said, drying my tears from my eyes.

Now that our happy reunion was over, everyone started looking around the inner sanctum of Star Cave.

"Now that we can look around, the scenery here is very pretty," Chimecho commented.

"Yeah! I'm sure there's still lots to explore here, hey hey!" Corphish added.

"Huh? But this is a dead end, isn't it?" I asked, confused yet again. Just then, the guildmaster started examining the wall behind him.

"Heh, you seem to forget that we are… Wigglytuff's Guild!" Chatot stated very proudly. Gosh... that was embarrassing… But casting it aside, we watched the guildmaster to see if he could find anything that could be out of place.

"Mmmm…." He said as he searched the wall for indents or anything of the sort. "Hm… Maybe like this?" Suddenly the guildmaster proceeded to summon a ball of energy which gradually grew bigger until it was the size of his palm which he then released to the wall.

The wall started to shine a luminous green color before emitting a blinding light. Once the light had subsided, that section of the wall had disappeared!

"Woah! Th-The wall disappeared… there's more to this cave?!" I asked, my hope being reborn.

"Yeah! That's where Jirachi is, right? We should think about what we're gonna ask for," Diglett said. The other members besides Chatot were also chatting about this new discovery.

"Wait, everyone… Sorry to burst your bubbles but… Not everyone can proceed past this point," The guildmaster said. Ehhh?!

"WHAAAAAT?!" Everyone shouted, just as confused as I was.

"B-But why? Guildmaster?!" Loudred asked.

"This exploration was originally Bidoof's, therefore he should be the one to find out what's beyond," the guildmaster said. Everyone turning to me. My mouth dropped once I heard guildmaster utter those words.

"Mine?! G-Golly!" I said, just as shocked as everyone else.

"Yep! You're the one who has the map, after all!" The Guildmaster replied cheerfully.

"Hum… when you put it that way…"Corpish started.

"That seems to be fair," said Dugtrio.

"It's decided then. Bidoof will go alone past this point," Chatot replied. If he were disappointed like the rest of the crew, he sure did a good job of hiding it.

"Gosh… Thanks everyone! I'll be sure to tell y'all of what I find," I said as they cheered me on. I soon went inside past everyone to explore the inner most depths of Star Cave, excitement building up in every step I take.

* * *

After a short walk through a dimly lit hallway, I found the familiar staircase which indicated there was even more to the cave. Once I descended, I found myself in the familiar dungeon before my encounter with Team Rogue. After exploring for a while, I quickly realized one major difference: the pokemon here were way stronger than the ones above. I fought Lunatones and Bronzongs among other things, all relying on Tackle and items to help me out. It's a good things this dungeon was full of Petrifying orbs.

On one floor, I saw an extremely open area in front of the stairway. Looking suspicious, I carefully started walking through the open area… only to find wild Pokemon rain from the ceiling and surround me. How scary! As fortune would have it, I had a spare Petrify Orb and there was a clear way to the staircase. I quickly smashed the orb, releasing bolts of electricity which struck all the enemies In the room and used Defense Curl followed by my newly learned Rollout to quickly pass through the crowd and make it to the stairway.

When I got to the bottom of the steps, I saw what looked like a dead end once again. This room was more magnificent than the last. For one, the ground in front was raised and was in the shape of a star.

"Golly, this looks like another dead end… There's got to be some kind of secret here…" I murmured to myself. Suddenly I heard yawning coming from above.

"So sleepy…" the voice said, yawning some more. Judging by the tone, it sounded masculine

"Huh? Where's that voice coming from? Wait… Could it be?!" I asked myself, my hopes at an all-time high.

"Yawn… Whooo's there? Is anybody theeeere?" the voice asked drowsily. Did it mean me?

"M-Me? I'm Bidoof. Who are you?" I introduced myself.

"Yaaaaaaawn… Me? I'm…" the voice trailed off. Just then, stars started appearing in front of me forming the shape of a swirling circle and releasing a bright light. Once my vision returned, by golly I was at the happiest I've been in my entire life!

"I'm Jirachi… Yaaaawn… Who are you?" he asked again.

"I'm Bidoof," I introduced myself again. Didn't I already say this? Guess she must be really sleepy. "U-Um… if you don't mind, I'd like to ask something," I said, nervous since I was talking to an actual Legendary Pokemon.

"Yes? What is it? Yaaaawn…" he replied.

"I-Is it true that y-you can grant wishes?" I asked.

"Why yes. Yes I can. But I can't do those when I'm sleepy… And… I tussle and turn in my sleep… so I'll probably attack you if you're nearby…" he said, yawning in between.

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" I said, shocked. He'll attack when asleep?!

"Yea… Sorry if I do…" And if it couldn't get any worse, he fell asleep after that!

"Golly, it looks like I gotta fight her… Sorry about this," I said even though she wouldn't hear me.

* * *

He started off by using Swift. Several yellow stars materialized from the sky and started raining down on the ground.

Dodging those, I used Defense Curl to build my defense a bit. Even asleep, Jirachi seemed to know my location since he kept floating towards me. Knowing that orbs would be useless, I quickly dismissed the idea of using those. I kept using Defense Curl while Jirachi was still far away. When he got near enough, I used Rollout. Since it couldn't hit him due to him floating, I had to be a bit creative about this.

Speeding towards the central platform, I used it as a ramp to strike Jirachi and managed to hit him once. I quickly used the momentum to dodge another wave of Swift raining down as well. Unfortunately for me, Jirachi seemed to know what would come next as he used Psychic to create an invisible barrier in front of the raised platform. Seeing no other option at the moment, I quickly headed towards Jirachi.

When I got near enough, I stopped Rollout and propelled myself using the momentum and used Tackle. It wasn't the strongest move in the world but it was the only one I had other than Rollout. It seemed like I got a critical hit as Jirachi fell to the ground but suddenly he teleported to the middle of the raised platform. Feeling curious, I decided to follow, noticing the barrier had dissolved.

Once at the middle, the cave started violently shaking! What was going on? I looked at Jirachi and noticed he was being enveloped by a white light. Gosh, today's been full of blinding lights…

When my vision returned, I saw Jirachi, who wasn't asleep this time, floating in mid-air at the center.

"Ahhhhh… that was a nice nap," he said while stretching. That was only a nap?! I'd hate to fight Jirachi if he were asleep then. "So… you were the one who woke me up, right? Who might you be?" he asked.

"I'm B-Bidoof," I replied. Gosh, how many times am I gonna answer?

"Bidoof, eh?" he said while going near me, as if summing me up. "Well then Bidoof, listen loud and clear. I'm gonna grant you three wishes!" he said cheerily.

"W-Wait a second! This is all so sudden…" I said.

"Oh well, that's alright. I'll give you some time to think about it, but you better hurry. I get bored pretty easily and I fall asleep when I'm bored," he said. Yikes! I don't wanna fight again.

"W-Well… I do have one wish…" I said. But for some reason, I was a bit hesitant to tell Jirachi. Why was I so hesitant? Just then, I remembered Chatot's words from this morning again.

" _I know the day will come when you'll be a great explorer. You just have to make it happen, little by little."_

"Hm? Something wrong, Bidoof?" Jirachi asked, stopping whatever he was doing.

"W-Well you see… M-My wish was that I wanted to be the greatest explorer ever, yup yup. So I thought I'd go here and ask you for that, but after thinking it over from this adventure, I don't want that anymore." I told him.

"R-Really? But why?" he asked, confused as he scratched the back of his head. I thought of how I would explain it for a while until I found my answer.

"I've come to realize that it isn't something that should be easily wished for. You gotta work hard to be a good explorer. Once you do your best… put in the effort, then you can feel really proud of yourself. A great explorer should have lots of adventures filled with lots of memories and experiences… That's how I see an explorer grow, even if it's just a wee bit. I learned all that from my adventure here in Star Cave, so I'm giving up my wish of becoming a great explorer," I said, reflecting on this adventure. When I looked at Jirachi, he was even smiling at me.

"I see… Very interesting… You know, Bidoof, what you said says a lot about you. Not everyone can resist wishing for their own selfish desires. I can see you have a good heart, Bidoof. I like that. So, if you don't have any wishes at the moment..." he started. Suddenly, an idea formed into my head about what I just said.

"W-Wait a moment please!" I said quickly.

"Hm?" he asked. I hesitated again for a moment, thinking my wish over one last time but then I reassured myself that it would be a good idea.

"W-Well… I w-wish for some pokemon that I could teach the stuff I said to you to. Y'know like a new apprentice at the guild," I said, stammering a bit. Jirachi was smiling again.

"A buddy, huh? Like someone you could show around, or teach stuff to?" he asked.

"Y-Yep. You see, during this adventure, I learned that even though I was constantly messing up, everyone still cared for me since I was the newest of them all. But, I don't wanna get used to that and start acting spoiled or something… If the guild had a new rookie, I could help them grow which in turn would help me grow myself as well," I replied.

"Well, Bidoof, you've surprised me yet again. You truly are a good Pokemon, Bidoof," he said as he formed a star in his hands and gave it to me.

"This star is proof that I've started granting your wish. Naturally, your wish can't happen immediately and that star is indication of when it'll happen. Once the star starts losing its shine, then your wish is almost granted. When it breaks, that means your wish has been granted," he explained.

"Golly, th-thanks Jirachi," I said, holding the star to my eyes. I could feel a comfy warmth emanating from the star.

"You should look forward to the day it comes, hehehe…" he teased. I couldn't contain myself any longer and soon tears started flowing down my face.

"Th-Thank you very much Jirachi. I swear I'll grow to be a great explorer one day!" I proclaimed.

"Hahaha. I know you can do it, Bidoof," he said, laughing as well. "Well, I should get going now. I'm sure the others are probably looking for you, Bidoof," Jirachi said. I felt sad at those words since our meeting was over.

"W-Will I ever see you again?" I asked, saddened by the thought of only meeting Jirachi once.

"Hm… that's a good question. I know we'll meet again someday, Bidoof, and hopefully I won't be asleep at that time!" he joked. We shared one last laugh together before I said my goodbyes, treasuring this encounter for the rest of my life yup yup.

* * *

When I got back to the others, I was immediately bombarded with questions but to keep my wish a surprise for everyone, I said that my wish needed time to come true and that they should just wait. After that, the guildmaster and Chatot declared that our expedition was a success. We went back to the guild after that and after dinner when everyone else was already asleep, I pulled out the star that Jirachi gave me.

My heart raced when I saw the star, it had already began to lose its shine! My wish was so close to coming true already! I didn't have time to ponder who the new apprentice might be since I was so tired but I knew one thing for sure: it was about to get livelier in the guild.

* * *

"Wow! I didn't know our acceptance into the guild was because of you and Jirachi, Bidoof," Sapphira said, amazed.

"Gosh, to be honest, I wasn't expecting two apprentices, but that only motivated me to work harder," I admitted.

"That's amazing, Bidoof, do you think we could explore Star Cave too?" Jude asked. Golly, that sounded like a great idea, but there was one problem though…

"Sorry about this but I seemed to have forgotten where I put the map to Star Cave, I haven't had the time to look for it either…" I said sheepishly, scratching the back of my head as well.

Suddenly a familiar chime echoed throughout the guild.

"Okay everyone, dinner's ready!" Chimecho announced.

"Well then, let's get going now," I said to the two. Once the two had left, I grabbed something from under my bed.

Holding the Star Shard broken in half, I wondered when I would meet Jirachi again before running off to meet with the others.

* * *

And thus Special Episode I is finished! I'm terribly sorry for the long delays these last few chapters but I had so much real life problems preoccupying me. Doesn't help that classes will be starting soon as well but rest assured, I will try my very best to still upload on time. On the next chapter, we go back to the main story, and if I remember correctly, it should be 2 filler days so there's something I could work with.

Until next time, bye!


	12. Modest Swordswoman

**Sapphira POV**

"Today, just do some more jobs from the Job Board. Here's a tip: You can stack multiple jobs if the location is all the same place." Chatot instructed.

We nodded and set off towards the Job Board. Browsing through the available requests, many of them were simple tasks like finding some lost item or looking for a lost Pokemon. After a while, I spotted a request with a different location than all the rest. I tore it off the wall and handed it to Jude for him to see.

* * *

Rank: C

Client: Flareon

Description: Greetings! I am Flareon. I'm a scientist working on a very special machine. Unfortunately, one of the parts seems to have been stolen from me! After several days, I've managed to track it down to Breeze Beach. I would get it myself but well, the name of the dungeon should speak for itself as to why I'm having difficulties. Escort me to where the part is located and I shall reward you handsomely.

Reward: Poke + ?

Place: Breeze Beach 8F

* * *

"That seems easy enough. Plus it's in a new dungeon too so at least we get a change of scenery," Jude commented. Ooh neat. A new dungeon! My excitement was growing so I told Jude that we should accept the mission. He quickly gave in and we had the mission approved by Chatot.

Once preparations were done, we headed over to Breeze Beach. It was nearby so it didn't take too long to get there.

As the dungeon name suggested, Breeze Beach was well… a beach. Miles of soft sand as far as the eye could see, the gentle flow of waves and the leaves of palm trees lazily dancing around made for a very calm and serene atmosphere, a change of pace from our previous dungeons. As soon as we saw the entrance to Breeze Beach, we saw Flareon waiting up ahead.

"Ah, so you're the ones who'll help me get the part back?" he asked. Jude nodded and Flareon started circling us.

"Oh well. You'll have to do I guess. I desperately need that part back," he commented. What exactly is that part for anyway?

"What's so important about that part anyway?" Jude asked. Flareon froze in his tracks and turned towards us.

"Ho ho ho. It's very important, my boy. That part will complete the Memory Gate. A machine that will allow us to experience history as if we were there in person! This shall be the breakthrough in pokemon history!" he explained to us. Okay…

"Okay…" I said, not really understanding why he'd bothered with this machine of his.

Shrugging it off, we told Flareon that we should get to find the part. He apologized for rambling off and asked us to lead the way.

* * *

As one might expect, Breeze Beach was full of Water type Pokemon, ranging from Shelders to Alomomolas. They were fairly easy to deal with but the sheer number compensated for that. The fact Flareon was weak against water types made it a bit harder but he was quick so at least he couldn't get knocked out easy.

For some reasons, this dungeon had lots of Poke lying around. Not exactly complaining though. We could use the cash. Anyway, exploring the coastal side, we soon found a cave. Gee, I wonder where this is headed…

"According to my sources, that cave is where we'll find my item,' Flareon said, holding up a piece of paper which he quickly threw away afterwards.

"Why am I not surprised it's in a cave…" Jude said to himself. Ignoring him, Flareon and I went on towards the cave.

* * *

 **Jude POV**

The inside of Breeze Beach Cave wasn't any different from the cave back at the beach near Treasure Town so no change of scenery for us. Shame, I was getting used to the beach scenery. Anyway, the native Pokemon hasn't changed so we were still fighting all these Water Pokemon.

Looking forward a bit, I could see an extremely wide open area up ahead in front of the stairs to the next floor. Remembering Bidoof's story, I signaled for the others to stop.

"What's wrong, Jude?" Sapphira asked.

"I see a wide, open area up ahead. Might be a monster house," I replied.

"Hm, you've got a good eye boy. Luckily I brought this," Flareon butted in, grabbing an orb from his bag before continuing. "This is a new type of orb the Federation has been developing," he explained.

"Once I say go, we'll make a run for it. Don't stop to deal with the enemies, if any of you know Quick Attack then activate it immediately," he instructed. With no other plan, we agreed to do it. We carefully approached the Monster House and once we triggered it, Flareon quickly smashed the orb and released its effects.

"Run! Now!" he shouted. We all quickly bolted for the stairs, not stopping as the hordes of enemies rained down on us. I saw a blue barrier surround us once the orb took effect. I was amazed when enemies' attacks did nothing against the barrier, blocking anything aimed at us. Flareon quickly ran ahead of me, cloaking himself in flames and charging at an enemy that decided to block our way. The unfortunate Chinchou who decided to get in our way was steamrolled by the charging Flareon.

We quickly reached the end of the hallway and quickly ran down the stairs. By a stroke of luck, we had entered the midway point of the dungeon and rested for a while. Once we were in the clear, Sapphira and I promptly collapsed on the ground and out of breath.

"Tired already? C'mon! You can do better than that!" Flareon taunted.

"Geez, it's not every day that we run away from THAT many foes," I replied, gasping between each word as I attempted to suck in as much air as I could.

"What was that orb you used anyway?" Sapphira asked.

"I'm glad you asked, young lady. That was a new type of orb being developed by the FET: the All-Protect Orb. As you might have seen, none of the attacks damaged you. It's one of many prototype orbs being developed," he explained. Woah… that is some powerful tech right there…

"But isn't it a bit powerful? Like what if someone steals them or something?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Don't worry, my boy. It's still in early development. I used one of the prototypes provided to me by the Federation. Also, the length of the use of the orb is directly proportional to the number of members currently in the dungeon," he explained.

"Uh… English please," I said, not understanding what he said.

"Fine… The more members there are, the longer the effect will last. That's the gist of it," he summed up. Well that's better… somewhat. Now that we caught our breath, we continued our exploration into Deep Breeze Beach Cave. Man, that's a long name…

When we arrived to the deeper parts of the cave, the scenery changed from the purplish walls to a sparkling blue. The floor also didn't have seaweed in random places. It was kinda like Deep Star Cave, just not hailing.

"Marvelous… To think this beauty had been here the entire time…" Flareon mumbles to himself. I had to agree with him there. The beauty of this dungeon is only a small part of the whole exploration thing. I kinda get why Sapphira wanted to be an explorer now… To explore places like these, to see sights you could never imagine…

I was snapped out of my daydream when I crashed into a wall. As I was recoiling from it, I heard Sapphira laugh and Flareon snicker at me.

"Gee… thanks guys…" I groaned, rubbing my head as I recovered from my goof up.

* * *

After exploring the cave, we finally got to what seemed like the pit of the cave. There was a corridor that led deeper into the cave and it also had a light coming out of it like something was shining…

"Hey guys, look! There's something over there!" Sapphira pointed out. Without a second thought, we all raced towards the end of the corridor.

When we got to the other side, there it lay; the item we were looking for. One top of a raised platform that resembled a bed made of seaweed, a lone yellow gear stood out from the rest of the scenery. Just as we neared it, a chilling breeze suddenly swept through the cavern, stopping us in our tracks.

"Who dares to enter my chamber uninvited?" A voice called out. Judging by the voice, it was a girl we were talking to. Suddenly a wall of ice jutted out from in front of us, shattering shortly after. In front of us stood a Marshtomp.

"I won't repeat myself so speak," she demanded.

"Uhh… we're Team Relic and we came here for that gear over there…" I said nervously as I pointed towards the yellow gear.

"And why should I? I bought that marvelous thing for 100,000 Poke you know. But I'll make a deal: you see, I'm a swordswoman-in-training and I've not found any worth foes as of late. If you can best me in combat then I shall give it back," she proposed.

"Can't we just talk it over?" Flareon said sheepishly.

"That's too boring," the Marshtomp replied. "If you won't fight then you won't get your item back."

Seeing as we didn't have much choice, we all agreed to her demand.

"Excellent! I hope you don't disappoint," she said. Suddenly, a sword of ice materialized in her hands. "En garde!" she said as she went into a battle pose.

She rushed forward going in for a quick attack but we barely dodged it. Tsch, she's kinda quick.

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to have some other orbs, wouldn't you?" I called towards Flareon.

"I'm afraid not, my boy," he replied. Just then, a thin wave of rapidly rushing water interrupted our conversation. We moved to the side to dodge it and immediately focused on the opponent.

Sapphira and I rejoined and I told her that we should use one of our old tactics again. She nodded in understanding and then we set up our plan. We activated Quick Attack as we rushed towards her from both sides. Closing in on her, I decided to take it up a notch and used the momentum of the Quick Attack to quickly jump onto her and use Bite.

Clearly she wasn't expecting that as she got dazed for a bit. I quickly got off of her just in time for Sapphira to strike with her Quick Attack. She stumbled backward a bit due to our combined efforts and as she was about to get up, Flareon rammed into her while under Flame Charge again. Unfortunately, due to typing, she was able to shrug it off.

"Not bad, but I'm not done yet! Divine Hail!" she shouted as she rushed towards the three of us. Just as she was near us, she sliced horizontally, sending out a waves of ice towards us. Not expecting it, we were unable to dodge so we just braced ourselves. The waves of ice hurt a lot but we managed to bear the pain.

"Impressive, you were able to withstand my Divine Hail… but how much more can you take?" she challenged. At this rate, we won't survive another one of those…

She jumped back towards the raised platform and then started enchanting her sword. Soon, small rune circles started flashing on the ground. Sensing it was a bad idea to stand under them, we all got out of the way once one circle flashed beneath our paws. We were proven right when pillars of water soon shot out from where the circles once were.

Seeing an opportunity to strike, we all rushed up to her using Quick Attack. Flareon and I used the momentum of our Quick Attacks to turn into Flame Charge and Bite respectively. With the combined force we were able to knock our opponent off the platform. She lay there unmoving for a while but recovered soon enough.

"I yield to you…" she said, coughing a bit in between words. We offered her a spare Oran Berry which she politely accepted. After finishing the berry, she led us to the gear again.

"I always keep my word and as such, here is your item back. Don't worry, I enjoyed that fight so it was worth it. Also, I'm impressed by your potential. Come," she motioned after giving us the gear back.

Marshtomp led us to a room hidden in the wall which apparently needed to be stabbed to be opened. Traversing through the long corridor, she started talking to us.

"So, now that we've battled, how about some introductions? My name is Selena, and this is the treasured sword of my tribe, Lexida," she said.

"You named your sword?" Sapphira asked.

"Not me. Long before I was born, Lexida already had her name," she replied. Huh… if it was named then that means it's really important to them.

"To be honest, I never really wanted to be chief of my tribe. But soon I grew tired of them pestering me so I accepted. I guess my reason back then was that I was unworthy to wield Lexida. I say that because only those deemed worthy by our elders are permitted to wield Lexida. Even then, one needs intense training in order to tame Lexida since wielding it requires the wielder to have high spirit," she said. It's as if the sword has a mind of its own…

"How intriguing…" Flareon mumbled to himself.

"Anyway, we're here," she said. Looking around, we appeared to be at a village of some sort since lots of Pokemon were around.

"This is my hometown of Savat. I've already told you that I'm chief so introductions aren't needed anymore. Anyway, the reason I lead you here is to give you something. Please wait here or you can wander around or something," she told us before leaving to get whatever.

After a while of waiting, Selena came back to us.

"Here's something for you: the Ice Charm. It'll allow you to summon a copy of me into battle when used. I'm sure you'll find it useful. Just like the real me, the copy can grow stronger as well. And once it accumulates enough experience on the field, it'll upgrade itself. The Ice Charm will also allow you to immediately return here should you need to for some reason," she said as she handed us a charm with a blue rose etched on it.

* * *

We thanked her for everything and soon we teleported out of the village with Flareon in tow. Once we got back to the guild, Flareon bid us farewell, saying something about us being the first to witness the memory gate once it's done. Chatot soon gave us our reward which was 500 Poke and a TM along with a note. It read:

"As a token of appreciation on claiming the part back, here's a TM. It's no ordinary TM since it's a next-generation one. Meaning you can use it as many times as you want. Pretty soon, the federation will roll out these kinds of TMs but for now, you're one of the lucky few who'll be able to use one. Anyway, this TM contains a move I invented myself. Unfortunately, it's only for Fire types. The move is called Fire Breath, a wide area attack that has a chance to lower Defense and Special Defense, great for crippling enemy defenses. Anyway, I look forward to our future endeavors together, til next time! ~Flareon"

Wow… a TM we couldn't use. Just great… at least we had the Ice Charm.

We immediately headed into our room after dinner since we were exhausted by the events of earlier. Collapsing onto our beds, Sapphira and I bid each other good night and I soon found myself losing to sleep.

* * *

So… It's been a while since I last posted. School started already so that's part of why I haven't updated. The other reason is that I'm thinking of how to incorporate my own ideas into the plot. This chapter is an experiment of that so if you like it, then great! I won't be answering any questions about my plans just yet but they'll be clearer as the story progresses.

Anyway, next chapter, we'll be back to the main story. Til next time, bye!


End file.
